


WHAT??????????

by se7enontop



Category: 2NE1, 2PM (Band), B.A.P, Big Bang (Band), Block B, EXO (Band), NU'EST, SHINee, Super Junior, U-KISS, f(x), 소녀시대 | Girls' Generation | SNSD
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Crossdressing, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hijinks & Shenanigans, I mean hopefully you still like the characters, M/M, Parody, and turned it into an open face sandwich of awful tropes, but with compelling character development, in which we took every cliche we could think of, this is ridiculous I'm so sorry, transfer from aff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 08:36:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 124,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10356474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/se7enontop/pseuds/se7enontop
Summary: You are the new girl in school and your name is Mary Sue and your parents are wealthy and have put you in an arranged marriage with Lee Donghae, the son of another wealthy set of people. What do you do when you are in love with someone else and are having trouble at your new school with gang members and stuck up popular girls who are jealous of you? Why can’t they all just leave you alone?(Shenanigans and hilarity abound.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this isn't a *new* work, I'm migrating it from aff because I prefer ao3 and wanted this here.
> 
> Obviously the entirety of the awful original title wouldn't fit, so here it is: I’M IN AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE WITH DONGHAE AND I AM JONGHYUN’S SISTER AND HIMCHAN LOVES ME AND TOP IS A VAMPIRE WHO WANTS MY SWEET NECTAR BLOOD AND REN IS PART OF A GANG THAT KIDNAPS ME BECAUSE HE WANTS TO KEEP ME AS HIS WOMAN SLAVE AND ON TOP OF IT ALL I AM IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE ELSE AND ALSO INCEST AND MPREG????????????? WHAT?????????? 
> 
> Yeah it seems pretty obnoxious... There was a point to that initially, but we got pretty caught up with how much fun we were having actually writing it that it took on a massive life of its own. Hopefully you have as many laughs reading this as we did writing!

You woke up to the sound of “Miracle” by UKISS playing on your alarm.

 _Wake up girl_  
_Wake up_  
_Wake up_  
_Wake up girl_  
_Wake up girl_  
_Wake up_  
_Wake up girl_  
_Let me show you fantasy_

You didn’t want to wake up. Today was your first day at your new school, Mordney Public High School, and you were really anxious and afraid because you weren’t very good at making friends. You’ve always been terribly shy and timid, despite your tenacity and wit that often impresses people as well. You’re just a walking contradiction, it seems, a certain kind of snowflake that can achieve all kinds of charm. But you didn’t think so because you also had very low self esteem and were blind to your own beauty and great personality. Because of this you often sell yourself short and underestimate yourself.

“Wake up, Mary! Aren’t you excited to start school and meet all your new friends?” Your twin brother, Jonghyun, skipped into the room with lots of energy. He was already dressed and ready and well-accessorized. He was much more confident than you and had no worries about making friends. He was quite popular at your old school, and you had no doubt that he would quickly rise to popularity at Mordney High as well.

In response to his chipper attitude, you groaned and pulled the covers over your head. He bounded over and ruffled your chestnut auburn ebony blonde hair. “Don’t be like that. Today’s going to be great. Besides, I heard Mom and Dad saying they had something to tell you at breakfast. You should hurry up and come down!”

With that, Jonghyun ran downstairs to eat because he loved food almost as much as he was short.

What did Mom and Dad want to tell you? You pondered it for a moment before finally getting out of bed and getting ready for the day.

When you stepped downstairs, your parents were waiting for you at the table and they both smiled at you. Your mother was beaming and your father was grinning a little uneasily. You were very curious about what they had to say, but they were silent as you sat down and began piling eggs and sausages on your plate. They waited until you had begun eating before saying anything.

“Ahem,” your father started.

You looked up at him curiously, sausage dangling precariously from your lips.

“Your mother and I have some big news to tell you,” he began, wrapping a large arm around your mother’s shoulders.

You blinked at them before sliding the rest of the sausage in your mouth, chewing it, and finally swallowing it. “Alright,” you said. “What is it?”

Your dad looked uneasily at your mom before saying, “Why don’t you tell her, honey?”

“Very well,” she complied before clearing her throat. “Your father and I, well…”

“You know we always try to do what’s best for you, dear,” he inserted.

“Yes, and you’re practically a grown woman now, and, well…”

“Well, it’s only a matter of time before…”

“I mean, you’ll have to get out of the house someday.”

“And let’s be honest, that figure isn’t going to last forever.”

“Especially at the rate you’re eating those sausages.”

“Not that that won’t come in handy soon.”

Your mother elbowed your father in the side. “What he means to say, honey, is that you need to get married soon.”

You stared blankly at them. “But I’m only sixteen.”

“Yes,” your father said. “So, because you’re so young and can’t possibly make this decision on your own, we’ve decided to set it up for you.”

“What does that mean?” you ask.

“We’ve found a very nice young man for you,” your mom answered.

“He’s from a very prominent family.”

“And he’s so handsome!”

“Yes, quite the looker!”

“Well, who is he?!” you demanded.

“Lee Donghae,” your dad finally told you.

Suddenly, Jonghyun spluttered and coughed in surprise from the other side of the table. You had forgotten that he was even there.

“Lee Donghae?” he yelped.

“You know him?” you asked.

“Know him? I know he’s the most popular and most eligible bachelor at Mordney Public High School, and that he has chicks practically falling down at his feet. I planned to become his best friend, but if he’s dating my sister, that really makes things a whole lot easier!” He beamed at you and your parents.

“So you want me to date this guy?” You turned back to your parents.

“Sweetie,” you mother said. “We want you to marry him.”

“What?!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mild swearing and the running joke where Mary Sue only eats phallic foods.

As you walked through the halls of Mordney High, looking for your locker, thoughts raced through your head. You couldn’t believe that your parents had set you up in an arranged marriage. Marriage is supposed to be for love! You didn’t love this Lee Donghae at all. You had no idea who he was!

Jonghyun highly approved, of course, because he really wanted to get on Donghae’s good side and be his best friend. _Why doesn’t HE marry him instead?_ you thought bitterly.

Of course you saw the fallacy in that. They were both men. Men didn’t marry each other. What an absurd and unheard of notion. But you were just being irrational in your frustrated state.

You rounded a corner and collided with a chiseled and muscular body that was attached to an attractive face with blond hair. All of your books fell to the floor and you groaned as you knelt down to pick them up. The guy you ran into, whose face you would describe as “princely,” also knelt down to help you with them. He had a pleasant and slightly amused expression as he did so.

“Thanks,” you muttered as you straightened up.

“No problem,” he responded. “Are you new here?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“I know almost everyone here, but I’ve never seen you before,” he said, his eyes piercing your soul. You averted your gaze from that intense stare.

“My name is Mary,” you told him. “Mary Sue.”

He smirked. “Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll see more of each other.”

With that, he strode off without even offering his name. You turned away and found and opened your locker, thinking furiously about the encounter.

What a mysterious fellow! You just knew he would be haunting your consciousness and you didn’t even know what to call him. It will nag at your mind forever. Will you ever find relief from this lack of knowledge, this darkness that shrouds your mind and keeps reminding you of your incessant and unquenchable curiosity to have the name of this person who helped you gather your books?!

Your locker slammed shut. “I see you’ve met Himchan,” said the girl who slammed your locker shut. “Here’s a tip: stay away from him. He’s mine.” Her three-person posse all nodded and glared at you menacingly.

“And you are?” you said coolly, unafraid of them.

The leader laughed a laugh that was much like a scoff. “I go by the name of CL of 2NE1,” she snapped. “And you’d best stay out of my way.” Then she strutted off, the other three girls throwing back a few last looks before following.

You let out your breath in a huff. It’s not like you liked Himchan seriously anyway. What did this chick have to threaten you about? Was she actually concerned that you might steal her boyfriend away?

What a thought. Himchan was a prince and apparently quite popular. You were just the new girl. Who ever heard of the new girl changing the status quo? Inconceivable.

You strode to class.

When lunch came around, you managed to safely locate the cafeteria and spot Jonghyun, who was frantically waving you down from a table in the middle of the room. As you sat down, you smiled and nodded shyly to the two people who were also sitting at the table.

“This is Key and Amber,” Jonghyun introduced them. “They’re in my chemistry class. Guys, this is my sister.”

Amber was rather boyish in appearance, and she gave off a masculine vibe to match. “Sup,” she greeted you in an equally masculine way.

When you looked at Key, however, the only word that you could find to describe him was _diva_. He sent a little half-wave your way, accompanied by a small smile that almost looked more like a grimace.

“Hi,” you said as you sat down with your tray of food. “So you guys have chemistry together?”

“You could say that,” Key answered flippantly. You thought you noticed his eyes flicker towards your brother, but then his eyes just sort of flickered in a bunch of other directions too, so you figured it was nothing.

“So, new girl, your brother didn’t tell us your name,” Amber said.

“Oh,” you mumbled around a mouthful of egg roll. You hastily swallowed what was in your mouth before replying. “I’m Mary Sue.”

“Mary Sue,” she repeated. “That’s a very pretty name. Almost as pretty as your blue eyes.” She flashed you a half-grin before continuing. “So how has Mordney High treated you so far? Do you like it here?”

“Well, so far the only people I’ve met have been complete jerks,” you answered, and then hastily added, “Besides you guys, of course.”

Amber laughed a little, and then said, “Most people here aren’t so bad. You must have just had some bad luck today. What happened?”

You told the three of them about your encounter with Himchan and then CL and her posse called 2NE1.

Key laughed abruptly. “CL is just a bitch. She’s like that to everybody, so don’t take it personally.”

That made you feel a little bit better. “Why are they called 2NE1 anyway?” you wondered out loud.

“Because they’re all twenty-one,” Key and Amber answered in unison.

“What?” You and Jonghyun wondered also in unison.

“Yeah, they’ve all been in high school longer than the rest of us,” Amber explained.

“Which is why they’re so high on the pecking order,” Key added.

“They’re like super seniors.”

“But they’re super-super-super-super seniors.”

You pondered for a moment what it must be like to be a super-super-super-super senior. That would major balls, was the conclusion you came to on the matter. No wonder they’re complete bitches, you thought. You decided you could excuse CL for her cattiness towards you earlier, but not for her possessiveness over Himchan. He was his own person, and nobody should be able to say otherwise. Wait, why did you care so much? You totally didn’t.

“Hey, speaking of top of the pecking order!”

Your attention was brought back to the conversation by your brother.

“Are you guys, by any chance, friendly with Lee Donghae?” Jongyun asked the other two.

“Lee Donghae?” Amber asked, surprised. “What is he to you?”

“Oh, I was just wondering,” he said. “After all, he is the most popular guy in school, and I was just curious about what a guy like that must be like.” He paused for a moment to take a bite of his carrots. “Also, he’s my future brother-in-law,” he added nonchalantly.

Key and Amber, who both happened to be drinking at that moment, spat their drinks across the table and all over you.

“What?!” Key exclaimed.

“Brother-in-law?!”

“Yeah, pretty cool, I know.” Jonghyun basked in the glory of his connection to godly high school popularity, which was pretty much the most important thing in the world to him.

“He never said anything about getting married!” Amber exclaimed.

“So you are close to him!” Jonghyun said excitedly.

“Yeah,” Amber affirmed. “He’s my brother.”

“What?!”


	3. Chapter 3

You found yourself wandering around the halls cluelessly between 6th and 7th period, wondering where your chemistry class was. When did this school become so confusing to navigate? How difficult could it be to find room 117? Look, here is 115, and right next to it is 116, but when you walked further down the hall, there was just 118. Why was there no 117?! Will you ever make it to your chemistry class on time? Who will save you from this fate of constantly wandering these corridors, never to find where you belong between 1:24 and 2:22?

You felt a light tap on your shoulder, and you turned around to see a pretty girl smiling at you.

“I’m sorry, but you look a little lost,” she said.

“Yeah,” you sighed, scratching the back of your head. “I just can’t seem to find my chemistry class anywhere.”

“Oh, you might be in my next class then,” she said. “Which room?” You showed her your schedule. “You are!” She took your arm and pulled you around a corner that you hadn’t noticed before and into the elusive room numbered 117. “I’m Sunny by the way,” she said, placing you into a desk and then taking the one next to it.

“Mary Sue,” you replied, heaving a sigh of relief at finally finding your place in the universe, which was in this desk in this classroom at this moment. You looked around the room then to see who else’s place in the universe also happened to be in this classroom at this moment, and were a little bit startled to see Himchan sitting against the far wall. You could’ve sworn he was staring at you, but then you were kind of far away from him, and he was just sort of vaguely gazing in your direction. He could be looking at anybody.

“Oh my gosh,” you heard Sunny whisper next to you. You glanced at her to notice that she was also looking in the direction of Himchan and blushing profusely.

“What is it?” you asked. “Do you like him?”

“L-like him?” She turned to you surprised. Then her face took on a slightly defeated look. “Is it that obvious?”

“Well,” you started. “Yeah… yeah, it really is.”

“Oh,” she sighed. “He probably doesn’t even know I exist.” She placed her face in her hands.

“Oh,” you let out, trying to console her. You reached out, intending to maybe rub her back in a comforting and friendly manner, but then you remembered that you barely even know this chick, and decided that this gesture would be too awkward, so you kept your hands to yourself. Instead, you consoled her verbally. “I’m sure he knows you exist.”

“Then he probably thinks I’m the weirdest girl on the planet!” She sunk down in her chair.

“N-no-o,” you said awkwardly. “You’re not weird.”

“Yes I am,” she whispered into her hands.

You tried to think of something to cheer her up. How did you find yourself in such an awkward situation as this one? “I think…” you squeaked, then cleared your throat before starting again. “I think you are very pretty,” you stated confidently.

This seemed to work, because she looked up at you from her hands. “You do?”

“Of course I do,” you assured her.

She smiled. “Thanks, Mary Sue. You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

You smiled back at her, supposing that you were now friends, and that you could converse freely with her about … whatever friends talk about. You supposed boys would be a good subject. Also you were still curious about Himchan, so you asked Sunny, “What is it exactly that you like about him?”

She beamed a little bit at the question. “Well,” she started. “He’s really sweet, the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

You looked back at Himchan. The smirk plastered on his face didn’t exactly say “nice guy” to you. “Somehow, I find that hard to believe,” you muttered.

“Really?” she asked surprised. “But he is! He’s genuine, and kind, and—“

“Himchan? Genuine and kind?”

“Himchan?” She gave you a confused look.

Suddenly the teacher came in and began the class. You wondered for a moment what had been taking him so long. After all, you had spent so much time wandering around the halls, and now talking to Sunny, it really seemed like class should have started a few minutes ago. But you shrugged it off, sure that your time was better spent developing character relationships anyway.

The teacher began his lesson and started giving you a bunch of irrelevant information that really doesn’t matter in the scheme of things, so you basically tuned him out until you heard him say something interesting. Namely, that you would get into groups of four and do a lab that would somehow demonstrate what he was just talking about just now. Sunny pulled you to one of the lab stations in the back of the classroom, and you wondered who the other two in your group would be. But you didn’t wonder for long, because Himchan and a guy who you realized was the guy sitting next to Himchan earlier both sidled up to your group.

Sunny suddenly started blushing again, which made you curious. You realized that it wasn’t Himchan that she had a crush on, which meant that she must have liked that other guy who was sitting right next to Himchan before, whom you totally hadn’t noticed at all until now because he was right in front of you and Sunny was reacting to his presence. Clearly there was some sort of chemistry there.

Your attention was taken away from those two and brought to Himchan when he started talking to you.

“I never did get to introduce myself when I ran into you earlier,” he said, a smirk playing on his lips. “My name is—“

“Himchan,” you stated for him. “I know.”

A glint appeared in his eyes. “See, that puts me at a disadvantage now,” he said. “You know my name, but I know absolutely nothing about you.”

“You know my name,” you countered. “So I’d say that puts us on even ground, unless you forgot it already.”

He merely smirked in response and began the lab without any more words.

You tried to concentrate on the lab, but you had no idea what you were even doing. Unfortunately, you couldn’t just rely on everyone else because Sunny was focusing all of her attention on the guy who was sitting next to Himchan and he was going right along with it. _Stop your canoodling and help,_ you thought in frustration as Himchan turned on the burner beneath the beaker.

Asking what you were supposed to be doing was out of the question. Himchan clearly knew what he was doing and was also the only one working, and you didn’t want to look like a total slacker on your first day. Bad first impression! But you couldn’t just let Himchan do all the work. How rude would that be?

You glanced over at Sunny in hopes of discreetly asking her what you were doing, but she was quite occupied with batting her eyelashes at that dude and grinning like a Cheshire cat and you didn’t want to interrupt. So to look like you were doing something, you stuck a thermometer into the beaker and pretended to read it like you understood what this whole lab was about.

Himchan watched you with a slightly amused expression as he added some salt chemical to the mix. As he did this, you stirred it so the salt might dissolve faster. His expression changed and he reached out to stop you, but then the beaker shattered and the solution spilled all over Himchan’s arm!

Your hands flew to your mouth in surprise and embarrassment, and Sunny finally pulled her attention away from the guy she had a crush on to stare with concern at the situation. Himchan was shaking his arm and a dark smoke was emanating from it, and when he finally managed to stick his arm under a stream of hot water, you realized that his forearm was bare. The solution had completely dissolved his stylish leather jacket! You hoped it hadn’t been expensive!

“Sorry!” you finally blurted out. “Sorry sorry sorry sorry!”

“Naega naega naega meonjeo nege nege nege ppajyeo ppajyeo ppajyeo beoryeo baby,” muttered the other guy who was in your lab group, to your bemusement. Sunny smiled and giggled at him.

Himchan shot you an incredulous look as he held out his arm, displaying the destroyed leather sleeve. “This was expensive,” he stated simply.

You felt terrible! “If there’s anything I can do to repay you,” you offered.

He thought for a second. “Well, actually…there is one thing you could do.”

“Whatever you want!” you said against your better judgment. You wanted to make it up to him.

He grinned. “I heard CL has been giving you grief about me,” he said.

You were puzzled at this seemingly irrelevant statement. “Yeah, she said to stay away from you. So what? She doesn’t own you.”

“I know,” he replied. “I keep telling her that, but she can’t seem to take the hint. Maybe you can help me get rid of her,” he suggested. “She hangs around me way too much.”

“How do you expect me to do that?” you asked. After all, CL was at the top of the high school social food chain, and who ever heard of the new girl changing the status quo?

The corner of Himchan’s mouth turned up in a half smile. “Pretend to be my girlfriend,” he said.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the bad puns. And for breaking the fourth wall. And for inserting lyrics into dialogue again. Also the chemistry is wildly inaccurate. Sorry for that too.


	4. Chapter 4

School had finally ended for the day, and you were exhausted. Your chemistry teacher had given your lab group a long lecture about lab safety and the importance of paying attention in class that lasted halfway into 7th period. So you, Sunny, Himchan, and that other guy (who you finally found out was named Sungmin) were all super late to your classes. You were just relieved that this long day was over with. As Jonghyun drove the two of you home in the Lamborghini that you two shared, you thought about how relaxing it would be to just take a nice long bath at home. You sure were glad that you had no more engagements to deal with before you could relax the rest of the day.

When you and your brother entered your home, you were met with one of your maids who told you that your parents were waiting for you in the parlor with a few guests. Curious at who could possibly be here to see you, you made your way to the parlor with Jonghyun, and found your parents sitting together with five other people, one of whom you totally recognized.

It was Amber.

She sent you and Jonghyun a little smile, and then your mother introduced you to the Lee family. First, she briefly acknowledged Amber’s parents, and then Amber, and finally the boy sitting next to Amber. You could definitely see the family resemblance between the two siblings.

“Mary, this nice young man here is Lee Donghae,” your mother said, gesturing to a rather handsome brunet with charming features. You and he bowed at each other before Jonghyun approached him charismatically.

“Hello, Donghae! I’m Jonghyun, Mary’s twin brother. You really are as handsome as they say!” he blurted out.

Donghae laughed, seeming slightly uncomfortable and out of place. “You two are twins?” he asked, really just to say something, and not because he was wondering. It was obvious you and Jonghyun were twins. “You look exactly like each other,” he confirmed.

“We’re identical,” you and Jonghyun stated in unison.

It was true. If somebody just put a long wig on Jonghyun, nobody would be able to tell the two of you apart. Nobody.

It was then that you noticed the one person that your parents didn’t introduce you to: another young man, probably the same age as Donghae, but who had much shorter and lighter hair than him. You were about to address him, but suddenly all four of the adults ushered you and Donghae out into the back gardens and ordered you to go for a walk. Both at a loss, the two of you decided to just mosey on in some direction, as you awkwardly looked around, at your hands, at the ground, at those trees, anywhere but at each other. Neither of you could find anything to say. You could just feel the awkwardness bubbling up around you, and the silence between you only acted as a breeding ground for the awkward. You felt like you were going to die, it was just so unbearably quiet; you had to do something about this.

After a considerable silence, you finally gathered yourself enough to break it. Confidently.

“So…” So? That wasn’t confident at all!

He nodded at you. “So…” he agreed.

“Who was that guy?” you suddenly asked.

He gave you a questioning glance.

“In the parlor, the other guy who was with you,” you clarified.

“Ah.” He drew in a breath while he mulled over how to answer your question. “Eunhyuk.”

“’Scuse you?”

“That’s his name,” he chuckled. “Well, Hyukjae actually, but we call him Eunhyuk. He’s sort of like my personal attendant,” Donghae explained while observing some yellow roses. He then turned toward you and said, “But really, he’s my best friend.”

“Oh,” you said. Oh? Is that really all you can muster? You felt a little disappointed on your brother’s behalf though. Jonghyun really wanted to become Donghae’s best friend, but it looked like that position was already taken. You wondered if that was subject to change, though, still hoping for your brother’s sake.

“I’ve known Eunhyuk my whole life,” Donghae said serenely.

Welp, guess that’s not subject to change. So you went with changing the subject.

“So how about that marriage?” Why did you say that. You flinched, as it wasn’t exactly tactfully put, and he was probably just as awkward and nervous about it as you were. You glanced sidelong at him to gauge his reaction.

His eyebrows were furrowed slightly, creasing his forehead cutely as he stared off in thought. “I just found out about it today,” he muttered.

“Me too,” you said. Well at least you were both equally unprepared.

He turned to you suddenly, staring at you with open, honest eyes filled with worry. “What do you think about it?” he asked.

“It?” you said, stalling to answer. You weren’t totally sure what you thought about an arranged marriage with Donghae, now that you’ve actually met Donghae.

“Do you think it’s okay for our parents to decide who we’re going to marry?” he asked. “Or for society to decide who we can marry?”

This was apparently a deeper question than just ‘What do you think about us getting married without our say?’ so you just answered with what you felt was true. “I think that marriage is for love. Simple as that.”

He smiled, relaxing a bit, and looked forward again to continue walking. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Me too.”

Suddenly your phone rang. You looked at the screen, but you didn’t recognize the number. With a glance to Donghae excusing yourself, you answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Mary,” was the reply.

“Who is this?” you asked the deep, sultry voice.

There was a staticky laugh. “Himchan.”

Oh right. He had asked you for your number after that lecture your teacher had given your lab group, saying he would call later about the thing where you pretend to be his girlfriend.

“Oh…” You glanced over at Donghae, who was looking over at you curiously with a small smile. “What is it?”

“You remember our agreement?”

You sighed, rolling your eyes. “Yes. What do you want?”

He paused. “There’s a party this weekend. Bom’s hosting it at her parents’ manor while they’re both out of town. She’s one of CL’s closest friends.”

“She’s part of 2NE1?”

He chuckled. “Indeed.”

“And I’m guessing you want to go together, where you can parade me around as your new girlfriend and piss of CL and start rumors and get her to stay away from you?”

Another chuckle. “Something like that.”

“Forgive me for being rather hesitant to go through with this plan,” you muttered.

“You could always shell out the money to pay for another custom made leather jacket,” he offered.

“Agh! Fine,” you hissed, to end the conversation quickly. You didn’t want to make Donghae wait any longer. “When is the party?”

“Saturday evening,” he answered. “Dress slutty.”

He hung up before you could spit out a retort. Glaring at your phone, you made your way back to Donghae, who was admiring the marble fountain in the center of the garden.

You put on a happy face as you approached him. He turned to you with a questioning look, but you shrugged it off. “Shall we go back then?” he asked, extending an arm.

You nodded and the two of you strolled leisurely back to the house.

When you stepped through the door, both of your parents ambushed you with more amazing news. “We’re throwing an engagement party for the two of you!” your mother exclaimed happily, ecstatic that their plan to hook you two up seemed to be going so swimmingly.

You gulped at the thought. An engagement party. For you and Lee Donghae. “W-when?” you stuttered.

“This Saturday evening,” your father answered.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Don't believe anything this story asserts about biology. Or chemistry. Any science. Actually, just don't believe anything.)


	5. Chapter 5

You found it very difficult to concentrate on your classes the next couple days at school. You were too distraught about the two parties that you had to attend. You voiced this concern at lunch with Jonghyun, Key, and Amber. The four of you were eating your lunch on the lawn under the protective shade of a big tree.

“I just don’t know what I’m gonna do!” you wailed. “I can’t miss my own engagement party, but I also owe Himchan.”

“Maybe you could leave one party early and then go to the other one,” Key suggested. “It’s never fashionable to attend a party for its full duration anyway.”

“She can’t leave her own engagement party,” Amber reasoned. “People are there to see her, they would notice her absence.”

“Augh!” You were just so frustrated by this dilemma. “If only there was a way that I could attend both parties!”

“Yeah,” Jonghyun agreed. “If only you could be in two places at once.”

The two of you stared at the ground defeated. Of course you couldn’t be in two places at once. That was just impossible, and it was silly of you to even suggest it as a remote possibility.

Key and Amber then exchanged glances with each other, then turned toward you and your brother smiling.

“You can be,” Key said.

“What are you talking about?” you asked.

“In two places at once,” he explained.

“What? That’s just silly. Being in two places at once is impossible,” you said.

“Not you, exactly,” Amber explained further. “Just somebody who can pretend to be you. Sort of like a stand-in.”

You looked at the two of them befuddled. Had they gone insane? Who could possibly be your stand-in.

“Somebody who looks exactly like you,” Key said.

“That person will act as you at one party, while you attend the other one,” Amber said.

This seemed like a good idea to you, but you were left with just one question. Who would be you at the other party? You pondered this for a moment, before your brother let out an exasperated, “Oh!”

You turned your attention to him, and he seemed to be trying to figure out what Amber and Key were getting at as well.

“So Amber is going to pretend to be Mary—“

“No, stupid!” Key shouted. “You are going to be Mary!”

“What? Me?” he shouted.

“You two are identical twins,” Amber said. “We just have to dress Jonghyun up a little bit, and everyone will think that he is Mary.”

It was true. You two looked exactly alike. If somebody put a long wig on Jonghyun, nobody would be able to tell the two of you apart. Nobody.

“That’s a pretty good plan,” you concluded.

Then left the question of who would attend which party. It wasn’t a very difficult decision, however, as Jonghyun immediately volunteered to go to the engagement party. He really wanted to get to know Donghae better if he was going to be his brother-in-law soon. That was what he gave for an explanation anyway. You decided it was for the best this way, because Himchan had told you to dress slutty, and you didn’t really like the mental image you got of Jonghyun in a tight minidress and stilettos.

You were a little nervous that it might not work—would Mom and Dad recognize Jonghyun? What if something went wrong? How could this all come crashing down on you?

“And if you guys need any help at the parties,” Amber offered, “don’t forget that I’ll be going to the engagement party, so I can coach Jonghyun on pretending to be a girl if he needs it.”

“Yeah, and I’ll be at Bom’s party,” Key added. “I can coach you on pretending to be a girlfriend,” he said cheekily.

Saturday arrived, bringing with it nerves and gender confusion as Key tried to find the perfect outfit for Jonghyun to wear at the engagement party. He had brought a wig over, one that matched your hard-to-achieve hair color quite well, and when Jonghyun wore it you swore you were looking in a mirror.

Jonghyun was being dressed first because the engagement party started much earlier than the trashy high school party. You got the feeling that Key was enjoying seeing Jonghyun in drag a little too much, because he kept choosing absurd things for him to try on, like miniskirts and tight cocktail dresses, which wouldn’t really fit in at the oh-so-formal engagement party with the wealthy families and higher ups.

To explain away the reason Jonghyun wouldn’t be attending his sister’s engagement party, he lied and said he had a detention at school and would have to stay late into the evening to study. Your parents scolded him, but they didn’t ask questions, which you were grateful for.

It was about 3 o’clock when Key finally cried out, “Perfect!” and you turned to see Jonghyun dressed in a tasteful lace summer dress and a knit wrap tied over his shoulders.

“How do I look?” he asked, grinning.

“You look just like a girl,” Key remarked, “but you still sound like a man. Speak like a girl.”

Jonghyun cleared and tried again. “How do I look?” he asked in a much higher voice.

Key grimaced. “Try speaking less tonight, ok?”

Jonghyun nodded.

The engagement party started in 2 hours, which Key spent styling Jonghyun’s wig and pouring makeup on his face. Your party started at 8 in the evening, so you had 3 hours to hide in your room from the rest of the party.

Key finally left at 4:30, and at five, Jonghyun gave you a good luck smile as he went downstairs to be you at your own engagement party.

At 6:30 you received a text message from Himchan.

_I’ll pick you up at 8. Remember to dress slutty._

You rolled your eyes and huffed. You hadn’t forgotten, and were already in your miniskirt and sequined halter top. You had applied dark eyeliner and shiny lipgloss and were halfway through teasing your hair into an unrecognizable mass of volume. Your blue eyeshadow brought out your striking hazel eyes.

You could hear the soft chatter from downstairs and the occasional clinking of glass, and it set you on edge. You hoped Jonghyun was doing a convincing job of being you.

At 7:55 you realized that you had never given Himchan your address. How would he know where you lived? Would he wander around aimlessly until he found you or would he ask someone or would he call you and ask you where you lived? You had only lived in this town for a week now. You didn’t know how to give directions!

Your phone rang. It was Himchan. You began to panic, frantically trying to remember street names and turns you might have taken as you pressed the answer button. “Hello?”

“I’m here,” he answered.

Oh. You looked out the window to see a monstrous motorcycle. Damn. You were not excited about this.

Rather than risk being seen downstairs by the party guests or your parents, you climbed down the vine on the side of your house out the window, your five inch heels scraping the bricks. You made it down safely and walked clumsily to the motorcycle and Himchan. He smirked at you as you approached.

“Breaking curfew?” he asked cheekily.

You ignored this. “How did you find my house?” you asked.

“I have my ways,” he said cryptically.

“School directory then?” you said, taking the spare helmet he offered you and putting it on.

He just smiled as he revved up his motorcycle. When you were safely seated with your feet off the ground, he said over his shoulder, “Actually I just followed you home.”

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that's the last time we use the phrase "dress slutty." The future looks bright.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> POV changes happen and it turns out I lied, so warnings for continued use of the phrase "dress slutty." Also for throwaway mentions of teenage depravity a la 80s high school movie parties. God I'm so sorry.

Jonghyun glided down the steps toward his engagement party—he meant his sister’s engagement party. Although if he was going to play the part convincingly, he might as well consider this his own engagement party. Like method acting or something. Yeah, he’d go with that.

He spotted Amber and drifted immediately to her, just for the security of being around someone who knew who he was.

She gave him a questioning look. “Jonghyun?” she whispered.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he confirmed. She nodded.

“Just making sure. Also…you should speak more like a girl if you wanna pull this off,” she remarked.

“That’s what Key said,” Jonghyun said in his girl voice.

Amber flinched. “Okay, new plan: don’t talk at all.”

Jonghyun nodded in agreement. Amber looked over his shoulder before grabbing him and spinning him around to face Donghae, who had approached them with a friendly smile. Jonghyun smiled bashfully back at him.

“Mary Sue,” Donghae greeted, taking Jonghyun’s hand. “How have you been this past week?” he asked cordially.

Jonghyun opened , but Amber cut him off.

“Uhh, he—she has been sick actually,” she spluttered. “She lost her voice unfortunately.” She placed her hand on Jonghyun’s arm in a comforting manner. Donghae looked to Jonghyun, his face painted with concern, and Jonghyun looked down and nodded in confirmation, showing a forlorn expression.

“That’s quite a shame,” Donghae remarked. “I was looking forward to conversing with you. It’s your fresh remarks and wit that I was hoping would make this party a bit more lively.” He stepped to Jonghyun’s side and held out his arm for his betrothed to take. Jonghyun grinned, flattered, as he took it and they walked together through the parlor. Amber sighed in relief before following. This was going to be a long night.

There was a lot of mingling. The bride’s parents introducing Jonghyun and Donghae to lots of important people, Donghae making small talk with his soon-to-be father-in-law, Jonghyun smiling and not saying anything while Donghae explained every once in a while that his poor fiancé couldn’t speak because of a sickness, and what a shame too because her intelligent comments could have enriched this conversation beyond imagination, which made Jonghyun smile bashfully and avert his eyes in modesty.

They also danced for a while. There was a dance floor for a few bold couples to twirl each other to the soft piano music, and all of the guests insisted on seeing the lovely engaged couple dance together. Jonghyun had never danced the girl part before. It couldn’t be that hard though. It’s like the guy part only a mirror image. Or backward. Or something. Amber was standing on the edge of the dance floor trying to send Jonghyun physical cues over Donghae’s shoulder—she mimed putting her hand on an invisible shoulder, and Jonghyun abruptly moved his hand from Donghae’s waist to the position it was supposed to be in. When the dancing started, he fumbled around clumsily and awkwardly, stepping on his fiancé’s—he meant his sister’s fiancé’s—feet.

“Don’t look down,” Donghae whispered encouragingly, and Jonghyun whipped his gaze up from his feet for the umpteenth time to stare straight into Donghae’s deep brown orbs. Donghae’s kind eyes held no judgment toward him, no anger or embarrassment at his inability to dance with any amount of grace. Jonghyun smiled and his eyes tried to find Amber again for help, but it seemed she had given up on him as she had turned away from the dance floor now and was holding her face in her hand and her elbow in her other hand.

It was the dinner bell that rescued him from this catastrophe.

The guests were arranged around the fancy dinner table so that Jonghyun’s father was at the head of the table, with his mother on the left of him and Donghae on the right. Jonghyun then sat next to Donghae, and Jonghyun insisted (with a very convincing display of flailing gestures) that Amber sit next to him.

Dinner was going much better for Jonghyun than the dancing and mingling was. After all, he did love food, and he was relieved of having to talk. Every once in a while though, he would become too engrossed in eating that Amber would nudge him, and he would have to turn some of his attention back at Donghae. Which also wasn’t too hard. Jonghyun spent half of his time just batting his eyelashes and nodding to whatever conversation was going on around him, and most of Donghae’s attention was taken by Jonghyun’s father anyway. This was all too easy, and Jonghyun inwardly congratulated himself for putting on a convincing act this far.

About an hour later, dessert had already been served, and the table had dissolved into several conversations. Everything had gone down without a hitch! Jonghyun wondered if things were going as well for his sister. It was maybe eight o’clock now, so she should probably be heading out by now. He wondered if she had already left yet.

Jonghyun felt Amber nudge his side again. Another cue to bat his eyelashes at Donghae. Which he did.

“No,” she whispered, nudging him again. “Look.” She indicated in the direction they were facing, towards the huge panoramic window.

Oh geez.

Right there, hanging from a vine in front of the large window, was Mary Sue. Jonghyun glanced nervously around the table, praying that nobody else had noticed, and he was relieved to see that the rest of the guests seemed oblivious to the girl dangling in front of the window. The girl that was supposed to be sitting where Jonghyun was right now. Oh boy, that would be awkward if everyone found out that he was actually the one being Donghae’s fiancé right now. Two men getting married? What an absurd and unheard of notion.

“We have to do something,” Amber whispered. Jonghyun nodded in agreement, but at a total loss for what to do. “Before anybody sees her.”

Just then, Donghae turned his attention toward Jonghyun, but he made a double take at the window. Before anybody could process anything, Amber knocked her wine glass off of the table and directly into Jonghyun’s white-lace-clad lap. He gasped and stood up in surprise, followed by Donghae.

“I am so sorry!” Amber exclaimed, drawing the attention of the rest of the guests. “Is that a priceless gown?! Oh no!”

Jonghyun waved off Donghae, who was tending to him with a very concerned look on his face. Jonghyun glanced back at the window, relieved to see that Mary Sue was no longer hanging in front of it.

“Would you like me to help you clean this up?” Donghae offered. Jonghyun contemplated this for a moment, but before he could respond, he heard the revving of a motorcycle engine. Thinking quickly, he did the only thing he could do in this situation that would keep every single person’s attention on him.

He pretended to faint.

“Oh no!” Amber shouted, covering up the sound of the engine. She kept up her vocal acrobatics until the sound of the engine died completely. When she calmed down, Jonghyun allowed himself to be woken up. Donghae was looking at him with the most concerned expression on his face. Boy, did it feel good to see that somebody cared about him like that.

Jonghyun stood back up and righted his chair before settling himself back down into it. He looked around the table at the rest of the guests. Of course, every single one of them was staring at him with confused, concerned, and just plain frightened looks on their faces. He felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. He only hoped Mary’s party would go better than this.

 

When you and Himchan arrived at Bom’s party, the party was in full swing already. You were amazed at the amount of people that could be packed into this house, regardless of the sheer size of the place. How would you ever find Key in this crowd? You scanned the masses of drunken high school students doing questionable things in search of your girlfriend coach.

“Looking for someone?” Himchan asked you, having noticed the way you anxiously searched the room.

You smiled and let out a nervous laugh. “Who would I be looking for?” you replied. “I’m just wondering where the bathroom is, so I can go freshen up.”

He smirked and pointed down a hallway that branched from the foyer. “On the left,” he said.

“Thanks,” you answered as you detached yourself from his side and walked in the direction he pointed. You found the bathroom, which was also surprisingly spacious and full of teenagers. You didn’t want to just go back down the hallway in case Himchan would see you and get suspicious. Luckily, there was another door on the other side that led to a completely different hallway. _This house is like a labyrinth,_ you thought. You waded through the orgy that was taking place on the tiled floor and resurfaced on the other side of the bathroom and kept searching for Key.

You were peeking into another bedroom, afraid your eyes might meet yet another sight that would burn onto your retinas and haunt you in your nightmares forever, when you noticed a familiar face that belonged to a person who was huddled in a corner looking upset. “Sunny?” you called out to her as you approached her and sat down beside her. She looked up at you and smiled slightly.

“Hi, Mary Sue,” she said. “It’s so nice to see a familiar face, especially one as nice as yours.”

You wondered what had happened to make her so depressed. “What are you doing here in a corner by yourself?” you asked her.

“Hiding,” she retorted. “I’m afraid to ask Sungmin out. He’s out there somewhere, and I feel like it’s the perfect time, but…what if he rejects me? What if he doesn’t like me? What if he just laughs in my face?”

You quelled her stream of worries with an upheld hand. “You yourself said he’s a really genuine and nice guy,” you consoled her, “so I don’t think he would ever laugh in your face. Besides, you’ll never find out if he really likes you if you never go for it!”

She just stared straight ahead at the threesome on the armchair by the bookshelf. “But I don’t know how to ask him out!” she wailed.

“You just need a bit of a pep talk!” you exclaimed, trying to lift her spirits. You glanced around at your musty and naked surroundings. Grabbing her hand, you stood up and pulled her into a standing position. “Let’s find a more quiet place to talk,” you muttered, dragging her out the door.

The moment you exited the bedroom, a hand grasped your shoulder and sent you jumping out of your skin. It was only Key though, holding his hands up defensively at your reaction. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked you sassily.

“Somewhere where I can coach her on how to ask out the guy she likes,” you responded.

“This way,” he beckoned, and the two of you followed him to a nearly hidden door near a staircase. It was a storage closet, but it was spacious enough to fit the three of you and there were no other people inside.

Once inside, you sat Sunny down on a bucket and grabbed ahold of her shoulders, steeling yourself to muster up a fantastic pep talk. But before you could get a word out, you were pulled around to face Key. “We need to talk about how to act like a girlfriend,” he said.

“But I’m about to tell Sunny how to—“ you began to protest, but he silenced you with his hand.

“First of all, the two of you would have been together now for what, a week? You’re still in the honeymoon stage, which means you’re inseparable. You don’t just go wandering off in a crowd at crazy parties. You stay attached to his side.”

“This is ridiculous,” you snapped, tearing his hand away from your mouth and turning to Sunny. “Now, you’ve known Sungmin for a little while at least. I could tell in chemistry class that you two are at least on speaking terms, which is already a major step in the right direction.”

“Second, even though you two are dating, that doesn’t mean that you have to be completely exclusive. Since it’s only been a week, you’re not in love. The hottest couples are the ones that flirt with other people too.”

“And I think he already likes you too. I could tell by how he talks to you that he definitely has a thing for you. Trust me, there is chemistry between you.”

“The key to making it convincing to everybody else is convincing yourself first. You have to believe that you like Himchan and that he likes you.”

“So you just go out there, and walk right up to him, and just start a conversation with him.”

“Make him think you are the sexiest bitch alive. Do this by making him feel sexy.”

“And then, when it feels right, just say, ‘Sungmin, would you like to go for coffee sometime?’”

“The sexiest bitches are the ones who make other people feel sexy in their presence.”

“Just say it naturally. And honey, you are beautiful.”

“Be the sexy bitch.”

“Are you quite finished?” you asked Key.

“One more thing.”

“What is it?”

He looked you up and down. “Who dressed you?” he asked disapprovingly.

“Himchan said to dress slutty,” you said a little meekly.

“Yeah. slutty. Not like a sparkly drag queen.”

You looked down at your ensemble forlornly. “I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“Sweet heart,” he countered. “You look like a hooker clown.”

“What?!”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teen rating is for swearing and general meanness and high school drama.

Key spent the next twenty minutes “fixing” your look in what you assumed was Bom’s bedroom.

“Is it okay for me to wear this?” you said, twisting the fabric of the cotton dress Key had swiped from the closet and forced onto you.

He turned back to you from his continuous closet raid and slapped the blue knot out of your hands. “Don’t worry about it,” he snapped. “Just trust me, okay?” He handed you a pair of strappy sandals. “Put these on,” he demanded, and you obeyed as he turned his full attention to your hair.

He brushed out the teased mess and sprayed something he had procured from nowhere on it to give it a glossy shine. When he was finished, your hair no longer seemed so stiff and had a nice wave to it. He also removed all of your makeup and re-applied a much more natural shade, and when he was finished you looked into the mirror. You felt very chic, admiring the way the over-the-shoulder minidress accentuated your figure and the way your shiny hair framed your face.

“You’re ready now,” Key said, beaming. He ushered you out of the room like a designer ushering his model out onto the catwalk.

You wandered into the main room and looked around for Himchan. You felt every pair of eyes on you as you passed them by. Whispers followed you, and you caught just a few words, like “new girl” and “Himchan’s girlfriend” and “changing the status quo.” You couldn’t fathom what any of this meant.

The crowd parted and you spotted Himchan, standing alone and looking disconcerted. He finally noticed you and you grinned shyly at him. He smiled back, the anxious expression having left his face.

“Well, you certainly did a good job freshening up,” he remarked, his eyes lighting up in amusement.

You giggled nervously, not wanting to explain. Then you glanced around. “Everyone is staring at us,” you muttered. It was quite nerve wracking. “Is it because I’m with you?”

Himchan took your hand. “It’s because you’re the most beautiful thing anyone of them has ever seen.” You smiled, flattered, and he led you outside and away from prying eyes.

“What are we doing out here?” you asked him as the two of you stood in a small garden a few yards away from the house.

“I wanted privacy,” he remarked.

“Privacy?” you repeated. “For what?”

He didn’t say anything as his gaze met yours, and you stood silently, staring into each other’s eyes. His smirk was plastered to his face and his sly eyes glinted in the moonlight as he took a step toward you. You found yourself glued to your spot, unable to move beneath his penetrating stare, gazing back into his eyes.

His face drew closer and closer, until you could feel his breath lightly brushing your face. Your own breathing had stopped, but you hadn’t noticed. He was inches away, centimeters, millimeters. Your eyes fluttered shut in anticipation. Just before your lips met, you briefly wondered how Jonghyun was doing at your engagement party.

 

“Well,” Amber said as she helped Jonghyun try to clean up a little bit. The two of them were alone in the kitchen, and Amber was kneeling in front of Jonghyun with a rag and some seltzer water, dabbing at the wine stain. “That went well,” she said.

Jonghyun gave her a pitiful look that conveyed that things couldn’t have been any worse.

“At least we haven’t been caught,” Amber reasoned. “It really could be worse.”

Jonghyun sighed and looked down at his ruined dress. “Let’s just get this night over with,” he murmured sadly.

Just then, a gentle knock was heard on the kitchen door, and Donghae peeked his head inside. “How are things going?” he asked.

“Well,” Amber said. “It looks like the dress won’t be saved.”

“Maybe I can try?” He walked up to them and gestured for Amber to hand him what she was holding. “Mind if I…?”

The siblings shared a look, and Jonghyun felt like they were speaking with each other without him hearing. Amber then gave a resigned sigh and handed Donghae the rag and water, before leaving him and Jonghyun alone in the kitchen, Jonghyun looking after her with fear and confusion and discomfort.

He watched as Donghae knelt before him and focused his attention on cleaning the stain on Jonghyun’s lap. He felt his face become warm with embarrassment. Dongae—the Lee Donghae—was cleaning his lap, and he didn’t even know that it was actually Jonghyun in the dress. Oh boy, he was getting awfully close to—no Jonghyun, just don’t think about it. Oh wow, why wasn’t Donghae saying anything?

“I know you’re nervous,” Donghae said gently.

The sound of his voice had an immediate calming effect on Jonghyun’s nerves.

“It’s okay,” Donghae continued. “I’m nervous too.” He looked up at Jonghyun, giving him a comforting smile.

Jonghyun smiled meekly back at him.

“I know we’ve only just met this week,” Donghae said. “And everybody is already expecting so much from us.”

Jonghyun nodded, feeling the emotions from the stress of the night building up.

“So let’s help each other,” Donghae said, standing up. “It will be nice if we can get to know each other and become comfortable with each other.”

Jonghyun agreed, his eyes beginning to water from—what was it, stress? Relief? Comfort?

A warm smile spread across Donghae’s face. “Let’s be good friends,” he said, holding out his hand to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun ignored the hand, however, and just went straight to hugging Donghae. He couldn’t help it. This whole ordeal just took such a toll on him, and Donghae made him feel so accepted, and he really wanted to be good friends with Donghae. He couldn’t help that he wore his emotions on his sleeve. So he just stood there hugging Donghae in the kitchen, and Donghae hugged him back before suggesting that they go back to the party. It was, after all, their party, and they should probably be in attendance for it. What kind of person didn’t attend their own engagement party? He chuckled at the notion.

 

“What are you doing with her?”

You stood there awkwardly in the garden, CL standing between you and Himchan looking enraged.

The kiss was barely anything. Your lips barely brushed each other before CL’s furious shriek brought you back to awareness of your surroundings. She yanked you away from Himchan by the shoulder and you fell to the ground. She only spared you a menacing glare before rounding on the man she thought was her boyfriend.

Himchan’s smirk could not be removed from his face, but his eyes held a note of contempt for the super-super-super-super senior. “I was about to kiss her,” he growled, “before you interrupted.”

CL spat out a “tch” that made you think of a cat. “And what makes you think you can go around kissing any girl that follows you around like a lost kitten?”

You didn’t follow Himchan around like a lost kitten… You pouted at the insult.

“She’s not just any girl,” Himchan said. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Ha!” She laughed viciously. “Since when?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Look at her, Himchan!” she demanded, turning to you to scrutinize you before facing him again. “She’s trash! Worthless and dull, one-dimensional, a walking contradiction who acts timid one second and headstrong the next because she can’t figure out what her personality is supposed to be. Just plain wishy-washy.” The words cut into you like a knife, because you knew every one of them was true. Himchan’s eyes darkened as she continued. “The bitch has no self esteem and no self respect. She relies on everyone else to tell her that she’s worth anything, which they only do out of pity. Isn’t that right, Himchan?”

You looked at him, tears welling up in your eyes. Was it true? Did he really only talk to you out of pity?

You didn’t want to stand here and take any more of this shit, so you just left Himchan and CL in the garden and walked back toward the house, where the windows were full of people pressing their faces up to the glass to witness the drama that had unfolded outside. Inside it was silent, and all eyes were on you as you walked through the crowd. You spotted Sunny in the crowd, looking at you with concern and worry. You noticed she was standing with Sungmin, who had his arm around her shoulders and was also looking at you with concern. You took little comfort in knowing that at least things had worked out for them tonight.

Key was waiting for you at the front door. He put his arm around you. “I’ll take you home,” he murmured. You nodded.

You were halfway across the massive front lawn when you heard someone calling your name.

“Mary Sue,” called Himchan. “Mary, wait.” He caught up to you and spun you around. You averted your eyes, refusing to look into his face when you had tears running down your cheeks.

“Is it true?” you choked out. “Do you only hang out with me out of pity?”

“Of course not,” he said.

“Then why would you ever want to talk to me?” you demanded. “Why did you rope me into this mess?”

He smirked. “You owe me for destroying my jacket,” he remarked.

You rolled your eyes. That didn’t make you feel better at all. Himchan seemed to have realized this, because he dropped the smirk and spoke in a more serious tone.

“CL won’t bother you anymore,” he said. “I told her you were worth more than her and her posse combined, and that she was a conniving bitch who tried to compensate for failing at life by being at the top of the hell that is high school, but that she’ll end up with an unfulfilling life because everyone else will have moved on from high school while she stays there dealing with new roves of students to rule, and the age gap between her and them will continue to increase until it is completely pathetic that she’s even trying to remain popular when she’s so decrepit and old.”

Did he really tell her that you were worth more than her? That made you feel a little better. You were still hurt though.

He grabbed your chin and tilted your face to look at him. “Let me take you home,” he said.

You pulled your chin from his hand and looked down. “I can’t,” you said.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Why not?”

You gulped. “Because I’m missing an engagement party.”

“An engagement party?” he asked, still confused.

“Yeah,” you said. “Mine.”

…

“What?!”

“Why do you keep saying that?” Key snapped at you.

You slowly turned away from Himchan’s face and followed Key to his car so he could drive you home. You weren’t sure about this, but it seemed Himchan’s expression after you told him that held…but it couldn’t be…

If you weren’t completely mistaken, you would think that Himchan looked… jealous.

What?!


	8. Chapter 8

It was a little after ten o’clock when you finally arrived at home. You had anticipated staying much longer, but after the unexpected turn of events involving CL and Himchan, you couldn’t wait to get back home. Thankfully, the engagement party was over by now, so you didn’t have to worry about any of the guests seeing you. But there were still a few lights on in the house, so rather than using the door, you climbed back up the vines to your bedroom window.

It was dark in your bedroom, but you didn’t bother to turn on any of the lights. You just wanted to take off your shoes and crawl directly into bed. You didn’t even bother to change out of the dress you were wearing, which you just realized you had technically stolen, but hoped that maybe Bom wouldn’t notice its absence.

Your bed was warm and inviting. It felt so good to rest finally and close your eyes and not have to think about what you were doing or who was watching you. You felt yourself drifting off towards sleep as you curled up against the warm body next to you.

Wait a second.

You quickly sat up and turned on a lamp.

“Jonghyun?” You were surprised to see your brother in your bed, and wearing one of your nightgowns, and still wearing the wig nonetheless. Had he forgotten that he wasn’t you?

He brought his hand over his sensitive eyes and groaned at the sudden awakening.

“What are you doing in my bed?” you asked.

“Mmm,” he grumbled. He yawned then and answered, “Donghae tucked me in.”

“Oh.” Well that explains it, you thought.

“How was the party?” he asked you.

You fell back on your pillow with a huff and looked up at the ceiling. “It sucked,” you answered.

He looked at you. “What happened?” he asked with brotherly concern.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

He nodded in understanding.

“How was your party?” you asked him.

He inhaled slowly, staring wistfully up at the ceiling. “It was… nice.”

You smiled, glad that things had gone well for your brother. You bade Jonghyun one last goodnight, which he returned, before you turned off the lamp and you both fell asleep.

The next Monday at school, you tried to ignore everything and everyone that reminded you of your humiliation at Bom’s party on Saturday. You could still feel the eyes and hear the whispers that followed you through the halls, but you tuned it out.

The good news was that Himchan’s promise held true and CL wasn’t bothering you. She would glare at you coldly when she thought you weren’t looking, and if you passed in the hallway she would just look straight ahead of her and pretend as if you didn’t even exist. Which was better than anyone else was doing, with all of these rumors going around now about you dating Himchan and knocking CL in her place and changing the status quo. You didn’t want any of those things. Frankly, you just wanted to disappear and stay invisible.

You were also avoiding Himchan like the plague. You spotted him down a hallway and abruptly turned a corner to find a detour to your class. You knew you would have to face him eventually, like in chemistry class, but you didn’t want to talk to him right now. When you turned the corner though, you collided with someone’s chest and looked up to see Donghae, who looked surprised to see you so suddenly but also quite happy.

“Mary Sue,” he said. “I rarely see you while in school. I had forgotten you go here!”

You gulped and smiled back at him nervously, unsure if he had heard the rumors about you and Himchan. If he knew anything about them, he didn’t let on that he did.

“Still lost your voice?” he asked, and you realized you hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. He continued before you could answer. “That’s alright,” he said. “You don’t have to talk. I’m actually glad I ran into you. I was hoping we could make plans for tomorrow. We could go to this museum my uncle owns. It’s quaint and there won’t be anyone around to bother us. We’ll be able to relax and get to know each other without the added pressure of relatives.”

He smiled and his expression was so good-natured that you smiled as well. You nodded. “That would be great,” you said. It would be nice to get back on track with your life instead of getting caught up in all this high school drama.

“Oh, you’re not sick anymore? I’m glad,” he said. “Now I can look forward to having a conversation with you and witnessing your sharp wit at work.”

You smiled and nodded before the two of you bid farewell and parted ways.

At lunch, you tried to keep your eyes averted from Himchan’s table as you passed by it on your way to your usual lunch table. You sat down, feeling slightly more secure around the familiarity of your friends.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Key questioned you.

You paused, holding a breadstick just mere inches away from your gaping mouth. You looked at it self-consciously. Had Key decided to ban you from eating carbs now?

“Uh…” you trailed. “Eating?”

“Here?” He gave you a scolding look.

“Yes…?” You really didn’t know what you were doing wrong here.

“No,” Key ordered firmly. “Go eat with your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you objected. You had no intentions of eating with Himchan.

“You two didn’t break up though,” he argued.

“We weren’t ever actually together in the first place,” you countered.

“Oh no,” Key exclaimed. “You are not going to waste all of my hard work.”

“But I’ve fulfilled my debt to Himchan! CL isn’t bothering him anymore. That was the deal.”

“And now you and Himchan have become the hot couple at Mordney High.”

You stared at him, shocked by this statement. “What are you talking about?” you asked.

He let out a laugh that was laced with just a hint of mockery. “Are you completely oblivious to your surroundings?” he asked. “Look around, Mary Sue.”

You did look around. People scattered throughout the cafeteria were stealing glances at you and whispering to their friends as they did so.

“You’ve become the most talked about person in this school,” Key said.

“But why?” you asked.

Key laughed that laugh again. “Because you were the hottest girl at that party, and you put CL in her place.”

You became this popular because of your looks? Were high school students really that shallow? Was the pecking order really based on something so inconsequential?

“Couldn’t it be because of my quick wit and winning charm?” you asked, preferring that explanation.

Key just let out an abrupt, “Ha! Please.” He flicked his hand in your direction. “I made you what you are. Now be a good girl, and go with Himchan.”

You opened your mouth to protest, but suddenly you felt a hand on your shoulder, and you looked up to see none other than Himchan.

“Come sit with me,” he said.

“Why?” you asked. “I’ve fulfilled my obligations. CL isn’t bothering you anymore.”

He leaned down toward your ear. “The agreement was that you pretend to be my girlfriend,” he stated. “If people are going to believe that you are indeed my girlfriend, don’t you think we should go out for more than a week? After all, a week isn’t very serious. And say CL catches on to that, and starts coming after me again. Where will I ever find another custom-made stylish leather jacket?”

You really had no argument for that. So you looked at your friends desperately, wishing they would help you out with this. But Amber and Jonghyun just looked at you helplessly, both at a complete loss of what to do or say, and Key just smiled at you and raised his eyebrows expectantly and flicked his hand at you in a shooing motion.

You sighed. There really was no choice in the matter. So you took hold of your tray and followed Himchan back to his table, trying not to look too disappointed in order to keep up the charade.

Sunny and Sungmin were already sitting there when you got there, so you sat beside Sunny, who smiled widely at you. You looked around at the rest of the table tenants. Everyone at this table was extremely attractive and graceful. There was no way you, a klutz with no self esteem, would be able to fit in here.

As you looked around at everyone and they all stared at you, Sunny took it upon herself to do the introductions.

“Mary Sue,” she said, starting with the person just to the left of Himchan, “this is Nichkhun,” a very cute upperclassman guy tossed you a wink that would melt anyone’s heart, “Minho,” a boy about your age with a long neck and humongous eyes grinned at you, “Krystal,” you recognized the waving girl from one of your morning classes, “her sister Jessica,” the older girl gave a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “AJ,” a guy with catlike features greeted you with a sexy gaze capable of sending shivers down your spine, “and Fei,” the last girl sitting next to Sungmin had long dark hair and a great figure and she gave you a small wave. Sunny addressed the rest of the group, saying, “Of course you all already know Mary Sue.”

You looked around at everyone, bewildered. How could they already know you? “You do?” you asked no one in particular.

“Of course we do,” AJ answered in a purr. “No one has threatened CL since she claimed her spot at the top of the pecking order.” His eyes glinted and the corner of his mouth was turned up in a half smirk as he said this, as if he took pleasure in CL’s downfall.

“And she’s been sitting comfortably in that spot for five and a half years,” Fei added with a grin.

Jessica didn’t seem as pleased as everyone else, but you wondered if she ever did. She seemed rather cold in general. “You can’t imagine how many people have been waiting to see her downfall,” she remarked. “It’s no wonder you’ve become so well known.”

“Yeah,” Krystal agreed. “You’re changing the status quo, new girl.” Sunny beamed at you.

You were a little overwhelmed by all of this information. There was no way you could have singlehandedly knocked CL from the top of the food chain. But these people all kept insisting you did.

“Well, it certainly helps that she’s so pretty,” Nichkhun remarked to the rest of the group, his eyes twinkling as he glanced at you.

“And that she’s dating Himchan,” Fei added. Himchan’s mouth turned up in a smirk.

You had never had so much attention directed toward you. So this was what popularity felt like.

“It’s a good thing you’re here, Mary Sue,” Sunny said. “We were just talking about our plans to go to the beach all together.”

“Yeah,” Krystal added. “It would be great if you were there too!”

“Our group would be incomplete without the new popular girl,” Jessica remarked.

“You really want me to go?” you asked, stunned and flattered.

“Of course,” Sungmin interjected cheerily. “Besides, this was all Himchan’s idea. It would only make sense that his girlfriend was there too.”

Himchan’s gaze met yours in response to this. You really had no way out of this, you guessed. Well it sounded like fun, anyway.

“Alright,” you agreed. “I’d love to go.”

“Great!” Sunny exclaimed, clasping her hands together. “So tomorrow after school—“

“Wait, tomorrow?” you interrupted. That was when Donghae wanted to take you to his uncle’s museum. “I can’t tomorrow, I have a—“ You stopped. What were you about to say? That you have a date with Donghae? You couldn’t let on about your arranged marriage when as far as any of these people knew, you were dating Himchan. But now all of their eyes were on you as you tried to think of an excuse.

“You can’t go to the beach tomorrow?” Sunny asked, looking slightly upset.

You looked at Himchan, who was staring at you with a slight smirk and one eyebrow raised, waiting for your explanation. He looked a little amused, as always, as he watched you try to come up with something else to say.

“It might be a little chilly tomorrow,” he said.

“Really?” Sungmin said. “I heard it was going to be beautiful. That’s why tomorrow is so perfect for the beach.”

“Regardless,” Himchan replied, his eyes never leaving your face, “I think I’ll need a jacket, just in case.”

You glared at him. There was really no way out of this.

“I can go,” you sighed. “You can count on me being there.”

“Awesome!” Sunny cried, before going into the details of the planning.

That day after school, as you drove home with Jonghyun, you sighed and leaned back into the headrest of your seat.

“Stressful day?” Jonghyun asked.

“Yeah,” you answered.

“What’s up?”

You considered him for a second. “I need you to be me again tomorrow.”

“What?!”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (There are some links if you wanna see what paintings they are looking at.)

“Hey Mary Sue,” Jonghyun said while fluffing up his wig and finishing the last touches on his makeup. “Do you think this counts as identity theft?” he asked playfully.

You smiled a little at that and nudged him with your elbow in response.

The two of you were in the girls’ bathroom at school. You had protested that Jonghyun was not a girl and therefore should not go into the girls’ bathroom, but then he pointed out that he wouldn’t be walking out a boy, and what if somebody saw him leaving the boys’ bathroom looking like you? How embarrassing that would be—for you—not to mention, damaging to your reputation. Each of you was getting ready for your separate dates. Well, yours wasn’t exactly a date, just a gathering of friends, but Jonghyun’s was definitely a date.

Himchan and all of his friends were waiting for you in the school parking lot so that you could all go directly to the beach from school. You had asked Donghae to meet you in the library so as to avoid any awkward encounter between him and Himchan. Jonghyun had changed into the same clothes that you wore today, so that Donghae wouldn’t become suspicious of anything, and you were now wearing a tasteful swimsuit and stylish cover up for your beach get-together.

You had expected Jonghyun to be more upset than he was about having to pretend to be you and go on a date with Donghae, but he seemed to take it well, and he may have been a bit overzealous in his preparations, staying up all night practicing his girl voice so that Donghae wouldn’t have to miss out on his fiancé’s stimulating comments and sharp wit.

He even shaved his legs.

“Well,” he sighed. “I guess I’m ready.”

“I guess I am too,” you said. You gave him one last look over before releasing him into the world and to the library, where Donghae was waiting. You then waited a few more minutes before walking out yourself, just to make sure nobody saw you both, and then made your way to the parking lot.

It was a perfect day to go to the beach, and you took a deep breath of the salty ocean air when you stepped out onto the sand.

The members of your group who had arrived first were already setting out beach towels and heading toward the water. You and Sunny walked ahead of Sungmin and Himchan to snag a choice patch of sunshine to lie out in. You still weren’t completely comfortable with everyone in the group, so rather than joining in playing in the water or beach volleyball, you just sat with Sunny and watched for a while.

“So,” you began for the sake of small talk. “How have you and Sungmin been doing?”

She grinned bashfully. “You were so right at the party,” she said. “He said he’d liked me for a long time too, but that he was afraid to ask me out because he didn’t know if I liked him that way.” She turned to you with big doe eyes. “Mary Sue? Thank you so much for giving me that little push I needed. I could never have done it without you!”

“So it’s working out well then?” you asked, proud that your matchmaking skills were so successful.

She nodded. “Definitely. I’m so happy!”

You looked around at the rest of the beach goers. Sungmin and Himchan were strolling along the water’s edge, talking like you and Sunny were. Krystal and Minho were playing beach volleyball against Jessica and Nichkhun, and you noticed AJ and Fei laughing and splashing each other in the water.

“Speaking of dating,” you mentioned, “are Fei and AJ…?” You trailed off. Sunny looked in the direction you were staring and spotted them too.

“Not officially,” she said. “I mean, there are rumors of course, and it does seem like they like each other. The whole school is just waiting for them to get together.”

“And they haven’t yet?”

She shook her head, but before the gossip could progress, your boyfriends—well, Sunny’s boyfriend and your fake boyfriend—came up to the two of you and sat down.

“Having fun yet?” Sungmin asked, and Sunny just giggled.

Himchan’s eyes met yours and he paused before addressing the other two. “Sungmin, don’t you think these girls would like some ice cream?”

Sunny gasped in delight. “I’d love some ice cream!”

“You would?” Sungmin said. She nodded and he grabbed her hand. “Let’s go get some,” he said excitedly as they walked off.

You were about to stand up to join them, but Himchan pulled you back down by your wrist.

“Hey!” you protested. “I want some ice cream,” you pouted.

“Later,” Himchan smirked. “I wanted to spend some alone time with you.”

“Why?” you retorted. “We’re not actually dating.”

His smirk was permanent. “But everyone thinks we are.”

“Who cares? We’re not sitting in the cafeteria or at a party in front of the whole school. We’re at a beach.”

“But there are still eyes everywhere,” he said lowly. “People see us. People talk.”

You looked around. Come to think of it, the people in the group you came with seemed to be the only ones here who were fully absorbed in themselves. There were so many people just sitting on towels or walking through the sand or getting ice cream who were all watching them. People nodded and pointed at AJ and Fei who were shamelessly flirting and splashing each other. They laughed at Minho and Nichkhun when a volleyball foul provoked a good-humored and sandy wrestling match. They “aw’ed” from yards away as Sungmin wiped ice cream from Sunny’s nose with a napkin. And some were even staring at you and Himchan, whispering behind their hands. This popularity thing was a whole new world to you. You had never felt so visible before.

“Why do they care so much about what we’re doing?” you asked, bewildered.

Himchan shrugged. “We’re like a drama to them. A group of attractive people, all enjoying each other’s company and relishing in our relationships with each other. They eat it right up. And we just play it up in public because they can’t get enough of it.” His eyes glinted as he brushed a strand of your hair behind your ear, and you were painfully aware of the pair of girls who gasped and started hissing behind their hands at the display. “It’s fanservice,” he said.

You looked around at the others. At AJ and Fei, who kept from dating because it kept people talking. At Krystal and Jessica, who warmed hearts with their tender sisterly love. At Nichkhun and Minho, whose friendship made girls squeal. At Sunny and Sungmin, who were cuter than rabbits when they were together. And finally you considered yourself and Himchan. The hottest couple at Mordney High.

You looked back at Himchan. You had to be a convincing fake girlfriend, and if this was how to do it…

“Fanservice,” you repeated, and you reached up to brush some of his bangs from his eyes. You noticed the reaction from the bystanders. You also noticed the way Himchan’s eyes lit up and the corner of turned up just slightly.

You were starting to get the hang of this. You hoped Jonghyun was acting just as convincingly.

 

Donghae was leading Jonghyun through the art museum, looking at various portraits, sculptures, pottery—Jonghyun really wasn’t into the whole art thing, but Donghae seemed to be. So he was trying his best to like it.

The museum was rather quiet and peaceful, except for the mob of girls who were constantly following them and snapping pictures and video of Donghae with their cell phones. His popularity was definitely living up to Jonghyun’s expectations.

“What do you think of this one?” Donghae asked, gesturing toward yet another medieval painting of Jesus.

Jonghyun looked it over a little thoughtfully before saying, “It’s nice.”

Donghae laughed at that. “All of these paintings are nice,” he said. He turned to look directly at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun matched his gaze. “Let’s look at abstract paintings then,” he decided.

“Abstract?” Jonghyun was having a hard time just deciphering these paintings; he had no clue what to do with paintings where he couldn’t even tell what was on them.

Donghae nodded. “I believe that you can tell a lot about a person by how they interpret abstract paintings. It’s like looking into a mirror. What you see in the painting is what lies within yourself.”

Jonghyun looked back at his date, a little surprised. He knew Donghae was basically awesomeness incarnate, but he didn’t expect him to be so deep. Intrigued, he nodded and allowed Donghae to lead him to the area of abstract paintings. They stopped in front of a [large painting that just looked like a bunch of splatters](http://totallyhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/number-8-jackson-pollock-1949.jpg) to Jonghyun.

“What do you think of this one?” Donghae asked. “What do you think the artist was trying to portray?”

Jonghyun tried to be like Donghae and stared thoughtfully at the piece of artwork before him. “The colors remind me of autumn,” he said. “It’s like crunchy fallen leaves on a forest floor,” he concluded, satisfied with his interpretation.

“I can see that,” Donghae murmured.

Jonghyun noticed he was still staring intently at the painting, so he asked, “What do you see?”

Donghae took a moment to consider. “Anger,” he said. “Arguments. But not between enemies. Between friends. Close friends. They understand each other, but they also understand that they can’t have what they both want, because that would only cause problems for them and everybody around them. But where one of them tries to make peace with the situation, the other one is angry about it and fights against it.” He paused then, long enough for Jonghyun to know that he was done talking.

“Yeah,” Jonghyun said. “That too.”

They moved on to the next painting then, [one that was mostly blue with splashes of red and white](https://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0qp6nP0vo1qa4vubo1_500.jpg).

“What about this one?” Donghae asked.

“It sort of looks like water,” Jonghyun said. “But with blood in it?” He really didn’t know. But once again, Donghae was engrossed in the painting, so Jonghyun asked him for his insight on this one too.

“Obligation,” Donghae said. “And fear. Both of that obligation and of breaking it. Trying to please everybody, but completely unable to, because everybody wants something different. And it tears you apart. But you don’t do anything about it, because you know that if you do anything to change the status quo, it will only ruin your relationships with the people you care most about, but they don’t know that at all. They don’t even realize this burden you hold, because there are secrets that you are afraid to tell them, because even just telling them those secrets would be enough to change things and ruin relationships.”

Once again, Jonghyun was staring at Donghae, surprised by his depth of character. Jonghyun had thought that Donghae’s life must be perfect, what with being the most popular guy at Mordney High School and having chicks constantly following him around and practically worshipping him. What more could a guy want? But apparently, there was a lot that Jonghyun didn’t know about Donghae.

They moved on to the next painting—this time a [predominantly black and white one](http://livinghealthy.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/24/7795.jpg)—and this time, Jonghyun didn’t even bother giving his interpretation, knowing that Donghae’s would once again be way better and more meaningful and telling of inner character conflicts than his own would be.

“A man split between two selves. There’s what he tries to be for everybody—optimistic, cooperative, normal—and then there’s the side he hides because he’s afraid of what people would think, what people would say. But no matter how hard he tries, his hidden self leaks into the other one, because it’s more true than the other one. So he does his best to repress that, to keep his selves separate, and he’s terrified because he feels like he’s been split into two different people. Fragmented and broken by the charade.”

Jonghyun didn’t know what any of that meant, so he just nodded in agreement and indicated [the next painting](http://www.thecitrusreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img-mg-kack-contemporary-art-1_153042320649.jpg).

“Hell,” Donghae said. “Dangerous love, and everything that can go wrong if you pursue it. Fighting. Shame. Destruction. Everything weighing down on you until it crushes everything out of you that’s true, and you become nothing more than shameful and unwanted, a burden to everyone you’ve ever loved, scrutinized constantly by society for just loving somebody that it told you you weren’t allowed to love.”

Silence fell back between them, before Jonghyun said, “I was gonna say the same thing.”

“Mary Sue,” Donghae said. “You’re a clever girl, probably the smartest girl I’ve ever met.”

Jonghyun only giggled at the compliment.

“So you’ve probably figured out just about everything about me by now.” Donghae stared remorsefully down at his hands, and then at Jonghyun, his eyes filled with sorrow and honesty. “Can we be open with each other?”

Jonghyun gazed back into those deep brown orbs. He had never seen this side of Donghae, and he had to admit he was surprised by it. He felt strangely happy that Donghae was inviting him to see this part of him that very few people knew about, but he also really wanted to be that person that Donghae could turn to. The thought made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. “Of course,” he answered.

This seemed to make Donghae relax, but only just slightly. Jonghyun watched him staring back at his hands, close his eyes and inhale deeply, open them again to stare back at his hands, as if he was standing there alone and Jonghyun didn’t exist next to him. Jonghyun wanted to say something, but he was afraid that doing so would somehow break this bubble that had been created around Donghae, around them, and that it would startle Donghae back to talking about silly paintings and reverse all of the progress that they had just made with their relationship. So he waited patiently for Donghae to break his own silence.

“Eunhyuk,” he finally said. “Eunhyuk and I…” He seemed to be having a hard time beginning. “We’ve been fighting,” he said with a sigh.

Jonghyun looked at him with genuine sympathy.

“He hates this whole marriage thing, probably more than I do. I’m trying to make the best of it, but…” He sighed again, directed his eyes up toward the ceiling, and Jonghyun saw the lights reflected in a watery pattern. “But that only makes it worse.” He took in a shaky breath, and then turned to look at Jonghyun for the first time since they had entered the metaphorical bubble. “Mary Sue, if you could,” he started. “Would you stop this engagement?”

This totally caught Jonghyun off guard. Stop the engagement? His immediate internal reaction was to say no. He liked Lee Donghae. Lee Donghae was his ticket to godly high school popularity. Not only that, but he liked him for who he was. Donghae was the coolest, nicest, smartest, most genuine person he had ever met, and he didn’t want that to go away.

But Donghae was looking at him with those honest eyes, filled to the brim with tears, that Jonghyun was surprised hadn’t spilled over yet, and he just wanted to make everything all better for him.

 _What would Mary Sue say?_ he thought. _What would Mary Sue say?_

“… What?!”


	10. Chapter 10

It was late in the afternoon and you were walking aimlessly along the shoreline talking with Krystal. After finally getting ice cream with Himchan and then playing a game of beach volleyball against Sungmin and Sunny, you had begun to open up and get to know the rest of the group. Krystal was a good person to latch onto right away, since she was in your 3rd period English class, and the two of you were discussing the other popular kids.

“Nichkhun’s family is closely related to the royal family of Thailand,” she rambled. “I think they’re like second cousins or something. Minho’s been modeling since he was in elementary school, and all the girls want him but he’s never dated anyone. He doesn’t seem to be interested in girls at all. Kind of a tragedy if you ask me. Fei is a dancer, and she’s really really talented. She’s head of the dance team actually, and she really wants to make a career out of it. She could probably be one of BoA’s backup dancers, she’s so good! AJ’s also a model and he plays guitar and sings and writes lyrics. He’s sort of like this tortured soul of music or something, he’s so deep. Sungmin does martial arts—“

“What about you and your sister?” you wondered.

“Oh,” she looked down timidly. “Well, Jessica’s a model. She’s really gorgeous. And I’m…” Krystal trailed off. “Well, I want to be a singer,” she admitted. “But I’m not that good.”

“What?” you protested. “I’m sure you’re great.”

“How would you know?” she said, turning to you. “You’ve never even heard me sing.”

“Are you kidding?” How could someone so great and popular have such low self esteem? “You’re amazing. You’re pretty and popular, and there’s no way you’re not also talented. Don’t sell yourself short! You’re the best singer at Mordney High!” Good pep talk, you commended yourself.

She smiled widely, and it reached her eyes. “Wow,” she said. “That’s the most anyone’s ever believed in me!”

“Really?” you asked. “What about your sister?”

Her smile fell a little. “Oh, well…She believes in me and everything…but she always tells me to be realistic about my dreams.” Krystal sighed. “But I know it’s because she cares about me and is trying to protect me from getting hurt.”

There was a short pause before you decided to talk about something else.

“So,” you began awkwardly. “Is there anyone you like at Mordney High?”

“Oh,” Krystal laughed and smiled and looked down at her feet. “I dunno…I mean, there is someone in one of my classes…but we’ve only spoken to each other a couple times, and I’ve always been afraid to…consider it, I guess?” She kicked the sand in front of her a little. “I mean…I’m kind of afraid of what people would say, you know? Since I’m kind of in the spotlight in this crowd, and…” She trailed off.

“And the person you like isn’t as popular?” you finished for her.

She looked up at you. “Yeah,” she said. “Something like that.”

You looked forward again and thought about Krystal’s dilemma. “I think that shouldn’t matter,” you said. She gave you a questioning look, to which you responded with, “Popularity is not the most important thing in life. If you like someone, then you shouldn’t let what other people think stop you.”

“What should I do then?” she asked, her eyebrows drawn together.

“Next time you’re in that class, just start a conversation,” you said. “Get to know that person a little bit. Just being on speaking terms is the step in the right direction.”

She smiled. “I’ll do that,” she said. “Thanks Mary Sue. You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met!”

You were about to modestly disagree when you tripped over something that jutted out of the sand. Holding your foot in pain, you looked back to see what it was. Something very bright and shimmery caught your eye and you reached out to take it.

“Oh wow!” Krystal said in awe as you pulled out a large conch shell and turned it over in your hands. “Mary Sue, you’re so lucky!”

“I’m lucky for tripping over a giant shell?” you said in disbelief.

“It’s a Rainbow Wishing Shell!” she exclaimed, to your confusion. “If you find one of these, you can make a wish on it and it’ll grant your wish, no matter what you wish for!”

You didn’t know what to do with this information. “I don’t know what to wish for,” you said. “Why don’t you take it?”

She held up her hands, rejecting it. “No, I can’t. You’re the one who tripped over it, so you have to be the one to make the wish.” You stared at the shell in bewilderment. It sparkled and shimmered back at you. “You can keep it,” Krystal said, “until you know what to wish for. I’m sure you’ll think of something!”

It seemed pretty cool to think about, even if you didn’t totally believe in stuff like this. If nothing else, the shell was beautiful and would make for a great souvenir. “Alright,” you said, standing up. “I’ll keep it.”

Krystal smiled. You smiled back. The Rainbow Wishing Shell sparkled at you both.

Soon after, the sun began to set and your group decided to head home. You followed, the conch shell in your hands.

 

“What?!” Jonghyun and Donghae were staring at each other, surrounded by girls and their cell phones, but completely oblivious to them in their own metaphorical bubble.

Donghae broke eye contact first, in an attempt to break the tension that was suddenly between them. “You’re right,” he said, laughing nervously. “What was I thinking?”

Jonghyun blinked. What was he right about?

“We can’t break off the engagement,” he said, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair and just generally acting cagey. “We have a duty to our families. I’m sorry for even suggesting…”

“It’s okay,” Jonghyun said, before he even realized he was talking. Was it okay though? Everything he had ever been told was telling him that it absolutely wasn’t okay for Donghae to not go through with this marriage. But when he looked at Donghae’s expression, his eyes that bore into Jonghyun with nothing but pure honesty, he decided to hell with what everybody told him. So he said again, “It’s okay. We said we would be open with each other.” Then he placed a hand on Donghae’s shoulder and said, “I understand.” And by the look on Donghae’s face, Jonghyun realized it was the most important thing he had ever said.

Donghae released a quick sigh of relief, and he let a smile overtake his features. “I want to do what’s right. What my family expects of me.”

Jonghyun nodded.

Donghae let out a monosyllabic chuckle. “Mary Sue,” he addressed, taking hold of Jonghyun’s hand and turning him to face him. “Homecoming is coming up.”

Oh boy. Jonghyun had almost forgotten about Homecoming. It was just two weeks away, and he had barely even given it a thought.

“And I was wondering…”

Jonghyun felt his heart quicken at what Donghae was about to ask him.

“Would you like to be my date for the dance?”

Jonghyun couldn’t help but blush. Donghae—the Lee Donghae—had asked him to Homecoming. And he didn’t even know that Jonghyun was the one in front of him. How was he supposed to answer that question? Two guys going to Homecoming together? What an absurd and unheard of notion. But Jonghyun was being Mary Sue right now, and he had to answer how Mary Sue would.

How would she answer? Jonghyun supposed it didn’t really matter how she would answer, because it was her obligation to be close to Donghae anyway, what with them being fiancés and what not. What kind of a person didn’t go to Homecoming with their own fiancé?

“Mary Sue?” Donghae asked.

“I would love to go to Homecoming with you,” Jonghyun blurted out.

Donghae beamed happily at his fiancé—who was actually his fiancé’s brother in disguise, but he didn’t know that. “You know,” Donghae said, looking affectionately at his date. “If I’m forced into a marriage by my parents as a business transaction that takes away my right to marry my true love, I’m glad that it’s you Mary Sue.”

Jonghyun wasn’t exactly sure how to take that, but he nodded and smiled back. “Me too.”

“Oh, speaking of Homecoming,” Donghae said, looking at his stylish watch. “I should be getting you home.” He offered his hand to Jonghyun—which, Jonghyun noted, was much more intimate than offering his arm—and the two waded through the mob of cell phone-armed girls to the exit.

 

When you returned home from the beach, you sighed happily. Today was actually a good day. You really enjoyed getting to know the rest of Himchan’s friends.

You placed the Rainbow Wishing Shell on your bedside table where it reflected the light from your lamp with a mirage of scattered color. You smiled at it before getting ready for bed.

When Jonghyun returned home, you asked him how the date with Donghae went, and he said it went well. He was about as tired as you were, so he didn’t give many details before he also went to bed.

The next day at school, you were followed by whispers and stares, which you had begun to get used to, but these seemed different than before. More malicious somehow. Like people were angrily glaring at you all day. Even Sunny seemed concerned for you whenever you passed her in the hallway.

You noticed that CL didn’t seem as upset as the day before. She actually seemed kind of…smug whenever you saw her. What was going on today?

You were at your locker when somebody slammed it shut. Why did people keep doing that?

It was Himchan. He didn’t look happy.

There was a pause before you decided to be the first to speak. “What’s wrong?”

He inhaled. “Rumor has it you’re cheating on me,” he said.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Rainbow Wishing Shell is the best plot device I've ever contrived.


	11. Chapter 11

“How can I be cheating on you if we’re not even dating?” you demanded.

“But everyone _thinks_ we are!” he snapped. You had never seen him look so flustered. “You’re part of this drama, remember? It’s damaging to both of our reputations if there are eye witness accounts circulating all over the school that you were at a museum yesterday with Lee Donghae.”

“Lee Donghae?” you repeated, stunned. Had he found out about your engagement? You didn’t even think about the possibility of Jonghyun being seen and people assuming it was you. “But…I was with you at the beach yesterday. You know that.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he looked into your eyes calculatingly. It seemed he hadn’t yet figured out how you could be in two places at once. You tried to conceal your relief.

“They’re just rumors,” you pressed. “They’ll go away when people realize they’re not true.”

He seemed to be convinced. Then his playful smirk was back on his face. “See you at lunch,” he said. You were about to say it back when he surprised you into silence with a peck on the cheek before walking away. Everyone around saw. Now nobody would think the two of you were broken up. _Well played, Himchan,_ you thought.

In third period, Krystal tried to talk to you about the rumors.

“They’re just jealous of you,” she said. “They’re trying to stir things up because you’re dating Himchan, and what better way to ruin your relationship than to say you’re cheating on him with Lee Donghae?”

You blew air from your cheeks in a sigh and put your head in your arms.

“I mean, it is a little believable,” she continued. “You’re like the most popular girl in school right now, and Donghae has always been the most popular guy. He has girls falling down at his feet constantly. You could totally get a guy like him if you wanted!”

You weren’t totally comforted by this assessment that you were the type of girl to just jump boyfriends because one was more popular than the other.

“Have you talked to that person you like yet?” you asked her, desperate to change the subject.

“Oh,” she faltered. “It’s my next class.” She looked really nervous.

“Are you going to strike up a conversation?”

She bit her lip with apprehension. “What would I say?”

You shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Talk about the class. Say you need help with the homework or something and want to study together. It’s easy.”

She fidgeted under her desk. “My grade is kinda low in that class,” she muttered.

“Great!” you exclaimed, before turning your head on your arms to face the other direction and trying to fall asleep.

You were sitting between Krystal and Himchan at lunch, frustrated and stressed and about to take a massive bite out of your corndog, when you were stopped by someone shoving a phone in front of your face. The picture on the display very clearly showed you and Donghae sitting down in an expansive room surrounded by priceless art and girls holding up cell phones. You were also holding hands.

For a second you felt disoriented, because you had no recollection of this event. Then you realized that was because it wasn’t you in the picture; it was Jonghyun.

“You are so busted,” said a voice that made hatred and a twinge of fear bubble up within you. CL had invaded your lunch table and was holding up the evidence of your cheating relationship for all to see. “This is the proof that Himchan’s beloved popular new girlfriend is two-timing him with Lee Donghae! This was taken yesterday at the Lee Soo Man Museum of Fine Art.” She looked at you with condescending glee. “Getting pretty cozy, aren’t you Mary Sue?”

You glared at her. You couldn’t deny the intimacy of the two people in the picture, but there was no way for you to reveal that it wasn’t you.

Before you could react though, the cell phone was knocked out of CL’s hands. Himchan stood up in a cold fury as the device skidded across the floor and the entire cafeteria fell silent in shock.

“Something wrong, Himchan?” CL said coldly, a devious smile dancing on her lips.

“The picture is fake,” he declared. “I know for a fact that Mary Sue was not with Lee Donghae yesterday.”

CL’s eyebrows rose high into her hair. “What makes you say that?”

This time Himchan was smiling. Well, smirking. He never really did smile. “Because Mary Sue was with me all day yesterday.”

You groaned inwardly. _That’ll improve my reputation_ , you thought bitterly and sarcastically. Did he have to make it sound so greasy?

CL just laughed cattily. “Well, even if she was somehow in two places at once,” she said with indignation, “there’s still the fact that she’s going to Homecoming with Donghae. Everyone who was there heard it.”

Himchan’s gaze turned to you, as did everyone else’s. They were all waiting for you to deny it or confirm it or something. You just sat there, speechless, your mouth opening and closing like a fish. You hadn’t even thought about Homecoming. Wasn’t it just a couple weeks away? You never even considered it until just now.

“No she’s not,” Himchan said eventually. “She’s my girlfriend. She’s going to Homecoming with me.”

CL pursed her lips. “We’ll see about that,” she simply said before retrieving her phone and strutting out of the cafeteria. After she left, Himchan sat back down and the chatter slowly picked back up as everyone settled down.

You awkwardly returned to your lunch, aware of the eyes on you, still unsure of your plans for Homecoming. You realized everyone was thinking the same thing CL had said. They’ll just have to wait until Homecoming to find out where your loyalties lie. You would also have to come up with a plan.

 

You were hanging out with Amber, Key, and your brother at Key’s house after school, trying to devise just such a plan. It was much more difficult than simply having Jonghyun cross dress and go with Donghae while you go with Himchan, because rather than just having to be in two places at once, you had to figure out how to be in one place at once with two different people without anybody noticing! How on earth were you going to pull this one off?

“Maybe you could just go between both of your dates this time,” Key suggested, laying on his bed and looking through a fashion magazine. “That way, Jonghyun can attend Homecoming as himself.”

“Not if both of them are planning on picking her up before the dance,” Amber argued.

Key huffed and rolled his eyes and continued flipping through the pages absentmindedly.

“It’s okay,” Jonghyun said, spinning halfway around in a desk chair. “I’ll go with Donghae. I don’t mind.” He picked up a pen and started balancing it between his nose and his puckered lips. You wished he would take this more seriously.

“But what if I run into Donghae, or Jonghyun runs into Himchan.” You voiced your concern. “Or if Jonghyun and I run into each other, and people see us?! What then?!”

“Calm your tits, bitch!” Key shouted at you.

“Key’s right,” Amber said. “We won’t get anywhere with you freaking out like that.”

You immediately quieted yourself so as not to invoke any more shouting from Key.

“Now, don’t forget, Key and I will be there at Homecoming,” Amber continued. “So we can help make sure that you guys stay separated.”

“Yippie,” Key deadpanned, turning another page.

“Just do what you’ve been doing, and I promise, everything will be okay,” Amber said. “Alright?” She placed a comforting hand on your arm.

You nodded, just relieved at knowing that your friends were there for you. “Okay.”

“Good,” Key said. He sat up on his bed. “Now we can get to something important.”

The three of you looked questioningly up at Key. “Which is?” you asked.

“What are you going to wear?” he asked.

You and Jonghyun glanced at each other, the pen falling from Jonghyun’s lips. You honestly hadn’t even thought of that yet. But Homecoming was less than two weeks away. Golly, you were just always unprepared, weren’t you?

“We need to go dress shopping, don’t we?” Key asked.

You and Jonghyun nodded sheepishly.

“Fine,” Key said. “This Friday—“

“I can’t on Friday,” Jonghyun said. “I have a date with Donghae.”

The rest of you stared at Jonghyun.

“You mean Mary Sue has a date with Donghae,” Key corrected.

Jonghyun just laughed. “I think I know Donghae a little better than Mary Sue does, thank you very much. At this point, he would be suspicious if I _didn’t_ go out with him.”

“Right,” Key sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “Dressing in drag is the _least_ suspicious thing you could be doing.”

“I can’t do Friday either,” Amber said. “I’m helping a friend with homework.”

“Saturday, then,” you decided. “Does that work?”

Everybody else nodded, and it was decided.

The four of you sat in a short silence as you mulled over your plans.

“…How do you think Donghae feels about plunging necklines?”

The three of you stared at Jonghyun.

“What?!”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mentions of rape (I promise nothing of the sort comes close to happening).

Saturday arrived, and dress shopping was taking way longer than any of you had anticipated. You needed to find a dress that looked good on both you and Jonghyun, which proved to be rather difficult. Every dress that the two of you tried on looked great on you, but on Jonghyun it was always either too tight, or too clingy, or too low-cut, or too short—if you bend down in that, people will _know_ you’re not Mary Sue.

Eventually, you just got fed up with trying on countless dresses, so you just sat back with Amber and watched as Key presented your brother in different dresses, looking for the perfect one.

“So how was your study date?” you asked her, as Jonghyun emerged from the dressing room in a sea foam green mermaid-skirt halter dress.

“Date?” she chuckled a bit nervously. “It wasn’t a date, it was just—we’re just—that one isn’t a good color on you,” she said.

Key huffed and pulled Jonghyun back into the dressing room for another go.

Amber looked back at your inquisitive expression. “We’re just friends,” she said. “We just studied together. As friends.”

“Okay,” you said. You really didn’t mean anything by your question, and you didn’t expect Amber to get all worked up over your choice of words. You both just sort of stared awkwardly at the floor after that.

The velvet curtain in front of you was swished back dramatically, revealing Jonghyun in a sparkly hot pink knee-length tieback this time. You and Amber considered this for a moment, then both scrunched up your faces and shook your heads. Looking disappointed, Jonghyun closed the curtain again.

“It was fun,” Amber said. You looked at each other and shared a friendly smile.

“Does anyone want to ask me about _my_ date?” Jonghyun threw back the curtain to emphasize the word _my_. He had on a leopard print dress with cutouts at the hips.

“That dress is not okay,” Amber answered.

“He took me out for coffee, and then we took a walk through the Rising Gardens of the East.” He wistfully drew forth the curtain again. “Mary Sue, you really are lucky to be able to marry Donghae,” your brother said from the dressing room.

You suddenly felt the need for some fresh air. You stood up from the plush couch you and Amber shared. “Does anybody mind if I just take a walk for a little bit?”

Amber shrugged noncommittally.

“Go,” you heard Key say.

With that affirmation, you made your way past the store clerk and out to the street.

The friendly clerk went to the back of the store to check on the only customers he had at the moment. “Do they need any assistance in there?” he asked Amber.

She tried to stop him from entering the dressing room, saying, “No, I don’t think—“

But it was too late, as he peeked behind the curtain only to see Key lacing up a corseted dress on Jonghyun.

The store clerk took a step back. “That’s a—“ He cleared and tried to hide the sudden blush on his face. “That’s a good color for you,” he said, and then left his customers alone for the rest of the night.

You took a deep breath of the chill night air. The dress shopping had taken so long that the sun had already set. You looked around before turning left and heading down that way. You would just take a quick walk around the block, just to clear your head and not think about the complications of your arranged marriage.

This really was a tangled mess you had found yourself in. Two men were carrying on a relationship with you, one fake and one arranged, and both were against your own will. What happened to marriage being for love? You didn’t think you loved either of them. You never had a chance to really get to know them, because everything surrounding the time you spent with them was to please outsiders. You really wished someone would just save you from this nightmare.

You turned a corner and collided with someone who just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Before you could fall backward though, his hands shot out and grabbed your arms, steadying you. His grip was firm and he didn’t let go.

You peered into the face of this tall stranger. He had large, dark, almond shaped eyes that seemed like deep hollow pits, and his eyebrows were raised in intrigued amusement. The corners of his mouth were pulled up just slightly.

“S-sorry,” you stuttered. “I didn’t mean to—“

“Shhh,” he hissed softly.

You didn’t know why, but suddenly you couldn’t move. Not even to pull away from his grasp.

“What are you doing walking out here alone?” he almost whispered. Rather than looking concerned, however, his eyes seemed alight with pleasure. He leaned closer, inhaling deeply, his eyes rolling back as he did so. When he breathed out, a sweet scent hitting your face, his piercing gaze fixed on you again and you were paralyzed. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be wandering around at night?” he murmured against your ear.

Suddenly you were terrified. He had asked you a question. He wasn’t talking anymore. Did he expect you to say something? What if you didn’t talk? Would he kill you? Was he a rapist? You should probably say something, just to stall him, but you couldn’t think of anything. Just say something!

“Are you a rapist?” Why did you say that.

He chuckled, his cool breath caressing your neck beneath your ear. Your breath hitched in your throat. Besides his hands firmly keeping you in place, he wasn’t touching you, but the way he was trailing downward made you shiver.

“No,” he growled. “Is there anything else you want to know about me?” His lips made contact with your collarbone and you shivered again. “It’s the very least I can grant you in your final moments.”

Final moments? You couldn’t breathe. He was going to kill you. You had to stall. You thought of anything to ask him, anything that would keep him talking and not killing you. “N-name?” you choked, your voice cracking and barely audible.

You could feel his smile break, and his teeth gently gliding against your throat. He breathed in. This was it. Your heart was pounding in terror. You squeezed your eyes shut as you waited for the end. Or for him to say his name. Whichever came first.

Neither came first.

Instead, he was roughly pulled away from you. Without his firm grip on you keeping you upright, you collapsed and opened your eyes to see him pressed up against a wall by another very tall man, who was holding an ornate knife to the first man’s throat.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you now,” the second man spat at your attacker.

The first one chuckled, apparently finding being threatened with a knife very funny. He held his arms out to his sides in a half-hearted shrug. “I’m an endangered species?” he said cheekily, to your bemusement.

“You and I both know that’s bull,” said the second guy with intensity. “I know what the covenant has been planning.”

You were very confused about what they were talking about. Endangered species? Covenant? What was going on here?

The second man trailed the knife downward, keeping his hold on the man against the wall. “Now,” he snarled, stopping his hand so that the tip of the knife rested over the other’s heart, “give me a reason to let you go.”

The first man’s almond-shaped eyes darted to you, still on the ground, and the second glanced at you in reaction. His large eyes widened when he saw you and he didn’t take his gaze away.

A moment passed before the first man, seizing the opportunity given by his assailant’s distractedness, shoved away from the wall and broke free from the other’s grip. He swiftly took off and in seconds had disappeared.

Your rescuer, still stunned, looked between you and the direction your attacker had fled, before bringing his hand to his mouth and muttering, “He’s headed north down sixth.” Then he turned back to you and approached. When he reached you, he immediately bent down and hoisted you back up on your feet. “Are you hurt?” he asked, his wide eyes boring into yours.

Still unable to speak, you just shook your head. He seemed to relax a little. “Good. You should get back,” he said. “It’s not safe to walk around alone at night.”

“S-so I’ve heard,” you mumbled shakily.

He smiled a little. Then his eyes lit up, as if he’d just thought of something, and he reached into the inside of his jacket and pulled something out. “Here,” he said, holding it out to you. It looked like a dog tag, but it had an intricate carving of a bird or something similar.

“What is it?” you asked.

“Phoenix talisman,” he answered. “For protection.”

You smiled, grateful, as you accepted it. “What about you?” you questioned, not wanting him to be in danger because of you.

He grinned. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “You should be getting back now.”

You nodded, gripping the talisman in your hand. You turned around and slowly walked to the corner, but before you walked past it, you looked back. The man had already disappeared.

When you reentered the dress shop, drained and scared, confused and bewildered, an argument seemed to have broken out between the three you left behind. Jonghyun was now wearing a floor length halter with a plunging backline and gold beading. “I like that one,” you interrupted their quarrel. You were so ready to leave this place and be in the safety and comfort of your bed.

Jonghyun looked triumphantly back to Amber, who sighed and put her face in her hands. Key grinned smugly. “Oh Wooyoung!” he called, and the employee you passed on the way out came over with a nervous expression on his face. Key gestured to the gown Jonghyun was wearing. “We’ll take two of this one,” Key told him.

As the poor confused shopkeeper rang you up five minutes later, you kept reliving your strange encounter over and over in your head. Your thumb ran over the Phoenix talisman in your pocket, feeling the grooves. It was strange to think about but you couldn’t help but feel an inexplicable connection to the man who gave it to you.

Key turned to Jonghyun, bringing you out of your reverie.

“We need to find you a good bra to go with this,” he said.

Wooyoung looked up from the cash register and gaped at them.

“What?!”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for swearing and girls being mean to girls. Also for tense situations with vampires.

It was the night of Homecoming, and you were nothing but nerves. You didn’t know if you and Jonghyun would be able to pull this off, even with the added help from your friends. Right now, Key was styling Jonghyun’s wig to match your own hair, and you were just trying to keep your mind off of what would happen if you failed somehow.

“Thanks again, Key, for helping us out so much,” you said. Just having him here was calming your nerves a little bit.

“Oh, it’s no problem,” he sighed. “I don’t have anything better to do anyway. It’s not like I have a date,” he muttered.

You looked at him quizzically. “You and Amber aren’t going with each other?”

“Amber?” He gave you a questioning look, which you returned.

“I just assumed that—“

He paused from spraying hairspray on Jonghyun’s hair to laugh at your assumption. “You’re way off the mark with that one, honey.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“Let’s just say we’re not compatible,” he answered.

This confused you. They seemed to get along just fine to you. “But you’re friends, and… I just thought—“

“Maybe if I put it this way,” he interrupted. “She’s not my type, and I’m pretty sure I’m not her type either.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, still unclear on the situation, but not wanting to press the matter. “So does Amber have a date then?”

“She does,” Key answered. “Someone from her fourth hour class.” He began applying makeup to your brother’s face, when he paused with an amused glint in his eye. “Actually, you know her date.”

“I do?” you asked.

“Yeah. You run in the same circles,” Key said. “You even eat at the same lunch table.”

You pondered this. “…Minho?”

Key barked a laugh. “Don’t hurt yourself trying to solve the mystery,” he said, and you decided to forget about it.

The dance started at 8pm. Donghae picked up Jonghyun for dinner at 6, and you were momentarily jealous of your brother because Donghae was such a classy date. Himchan wasn’t taking you anywhere before the dance.

Once your brother had left, Key sighed. “No reason for me to stick around,” he muttered. “I’ll be waiting for you at the front doors,” he reminded you. “Just to keep an eye on you and Himchan. Amber and I will make sure you guys don’t accidentally run into the wrong dates or each other or something.” With a small smile in your direction, he left.

You took a deep breath, trying to calm your nerves. You really hoped nothing would go horribly wrong tonight.

It was 8 when Himchan texted you that he was outside your house. You looked out your window and saw Himchan sitting on his motorcycle in the circular drive. You pouted. Donghae came up to the front door to pick Jonghyun up. Why couldn’t Himchan be the same way?

You texted him back to say you would be right out, and then almost climbed out the window out of habit before realizing that that would be stupid as shit, and proceeded to exit your house through the front door. Himchan met you with a characteristic smirk.

“You seem nervous,” he said.

You blew air from your cheeks in response. “How long are we going to keep up this charade?” you asked him.

His jaw tightened visibly and he didn’t answer. He just revved up the motorcycle and took off, forcing you to wrap your arms tightly around him so you didn’t fall off.

Key said he would be waiting for you by the front doors when you arrived at the dance. With this in mind, you kept your eyes open for him as you walked through those doors in the entryway. He was easy for you to spot, his multicolored hairstreaks catching your eye, and he nodded in your direction when you made eye contact.

Feeling a bit more secure, you turned to Himchan. “Do you want to get some punch or something?” you asked him. You weren’t quite ready to jump into the fray of the dance floor yet.

Himchan smirked and nodded. “Whatever strikes your fancy,” he replied.

You were halfway there when you heard someone hissing in your ear. “What are you doing?” Key whispered. “Your brother and Donghae are at the refreshments table.”

Oh shit, you didn’t know that! Key was really on top of things. Good thing you had him around to help you.

“On second thought, let’s dance!” you blurted out, grabbing Himchan by the arm and dragging him sideways onto the dance floor. He let out a small noise of bemusement, but otherwise he didn’t protest.

“Mary Sue!” Sunny squealed when she saw the two of you. She broke away from Sungmin and grabbed your hands, hopping up and down excitedly. Sungmin and Himchan greeted each other as well. When Sunny had calmed down, she smiled widely at you and said, “I’m so glad you came!”

“Why wouldn’t I?” you asked, trying to keep your energy up so you didn’t seem so nervous.

“Well, I was afraid you might not want to go,” she explained. “Because of the rumors.” You looked down anxiously at the mention of this, but Sunny’s smile was bright and couldn’t be erased. “What was I thinking?” she said cheerily. “No silly rumors would keep the great and awesome Mary Sue from enjoying her Homecoming! Besides,” she mused, “everyone can see that you’re here with Himchan. Coming here with him proves that you’re not cheating on him!” She giggled happily and you smiled and let out a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah,” you said. “Of course. I’m here with Himchan. How could I possibly be with Donghae?”

 

Jonghyun happily sipped his punch as Donghae wrapped a friendly arm around his waist. Already, he was having such a great time. Donghae was the best date a guy could ask for. _Girl_. Best date a _girl_ could ask for. Jonghyun may have been getting too comfortable in his role as Donghae’s fiancé. But Donghae made it very easy to be comfortable. He took Jonghyun to dinner at a really fancy restaurant, one that had a reservation list that was five years long, but that Donghae was able to get them in easily because his second cousin owned the place or something.

They had just arrived at the dance a few minutes ago, so for the moment, the two of them were just mingling over the punch table with Amber and her date Krystal. At first, Jonghyun was surprised to see that Amber had come to Homecoming with another girl. After all, girls can’t love each other. But then he figured they had come as friends because neither of them had dates to go with. He had heard of girls doing that before.

Krystal kept giving Jonghyun suggestive glances that he really didn’t understand. She shuffled up next to him and whispered, “I knew you could get a guy like Donghae if you wanted.”

Jonghyun didn’t really know how to respond, so he just nodded and smiled nervously and sipped his punch some more to occupy himself.

Krystal went over to Amber and started tugging on her hand. “I want to dance,” she said smiling.

Amber looked at her. “You do?” she asked. Jonghyun noticed her scan the crowd for a moment before answering, “Alright. Let’s dance.”

The two girls started for the dance floor, but suddenly Krystal grabbed Jonghyun’s hand too, and said, “Mary Sue, please come dance with us.”

He grabbed for Donghae’s hand as well, and they were both dragged into the crowd of people.

As soon as the crowd offered her some cover, Amber brought her wrist up to and spoke into the small communication device. “We’re moving to the dance floor,” she said. “Jonghyun and Donghae are with us.”

“Got it, thanks,” she heard Key say.

For the moment, Amber thought that they just might be able to pull this off.

 

“I see the rumors are false.” Nichkhun tossed you a smirk and a wink when he saw you dancing with Himchan. You chuckled nervously again. Every time another one of Himchan’s posse commented on the rumors or congratulated you for coming with Himchan and proving everyone wrong about being a cheater and fixing your reputation, you felt even more anxious and questioned whether you could keep up this charade for the rest of the night.

You gave the group another fake smile before you turned away to scan the crowd and to hide your apprehension. You spotted Key a few feet away, his hand held up to his face. He nodded and then approached your group, but he was looking right over your head.

“Refreshments. Now,” he muttered in your ear as he stared somewhere to your right.

That must’ve meant that Jonghyun and Donghae had left the refreshments table and were headed to the dance floor. Trusting Key, you took hold of Himchan’s arm.

“I think I’d like that punch now,” you said and began leading him to the edge of the dance floor. You had taken about four steps toward the refreshments table when Key’s voice was in your ear again

“Not that way!” he hissed. “Go the long way!” He pushed you in a different direction, causing you to stumble into Himchan, who steadied you and gave you a slightly concerned, very amused look.

You straightened up again and cleared your throat. Himchan extended an arm. “If you’re capable of it—“ you rolled your eyes at this—“shall we go?”

You smiled and took his arm again. “Let’s go this way,” you said, dragging him in the direction Key had shoved you as you took the long way around the dance floor and to the refreshment table. You ignored Himchan’s confused expression and acted as if you were dead set on taking this route, even though you had no clear motive for it.

A few people seemed to be staring at you as you approached the table and got yourself some punch. You figured it was just your imagination though. You were probably being paranoid.

The night continued on in this manner. Every once in a while, Key would alert you to Jonghyun’s and Donghae’s whereabouts by shoving you off to another part of the building to avoid them, and you would have to make up some excuse for why you wanted to get more punch or stand by the windows or dance on the other side of the dance floor.

You also began to realize that you weren’t just imagining those stares. As the night progressed, more and more people were giving you strange looks and whispering to each other as they pointed or nodded in your direction. Eventually you started to pick up what some of them were saying, catching bits and pieces like “cheating ” and “two-timer” and “being in two places at once.”

It was really wearing you down, knowing that everyone believed you were cheating on Himchan with Donghae, and you cursed mentally. It was really stupid of you to think that you could pull this one off. Of course they would all see you with Himchan and Jonghyun with Donghae and think you had come with two different people. You even felt like a two-timer, even though you had been attached to Himchan the entire night.

You looked around at all the horribly dirty looks directed at you, and then you looked at Himchan. He had begun to notice how everyone was staring at you as well, and his brow was furrowed in concern and confusion. You couldn’t take this anymore. You had to detach yourself from him for just a little while, enough to drop the charade and clear your head. You made up some quick excuse and left Himchan alone for the first time that night and rushed to the bathroom.

Key stopped you just outside the door. “Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded.

“Bathroom,” you said, annoyed and visibly stressed.

He gave you a disbelieving look. You sighed.

“Look, I just need to clear my head. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Fine.” He gave in and stepped aside.

You entered the bathroom, relieved to see that it appeared empty. You leaned over one of the sinks and looked at your reflection. What were you doing? How did you find yourself in this mess?

Just then, Amber’s reflection came up behind yours. Key must have told her where you were.

“Hey,” she said, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder.

You inhaled a shaky breath and tried to smile, but it came out weak.

“I know you’re having a hard time,” she said. “But we’re all still here for you. We’re still in this.” She gave you a friendly half hug. “We can still pull this off.”

“It’s not working,” you blurted out. “We can’t pull this off, Amber. People have seen me with Himchan and with Donghae. There was no way we could have prevented that.” You brought a hand up to your eyes to try and stop yourself from crying. You didn’t want to ruin your makeup. “I don’t know why I thought we could fool the entire school.”

Suddenly, one of the bathroom stalls burst open. You and Amber both jumped, and your heart sank even further as you saw who had been listening to every word you said. CL stalked up behind the two of you and sent a burning glare at your reflection.

“I knew you were a filthy two-timing whore!” she spat. “And now I’ve heard it with my own ears. Wait until Himchan finds out about this.” She smiled evilly. “Or I could just announce it to the entire school! Wouldn’t that be great?”

“There’s something you don’t know about it, CL,” Amber tried to explain, glaring at the twenty-one-year-old.

CL narrowed her eyes at the two of you. “What’s not to know? This two-timer’s been going between Himchan and Donghae all night.” She cocked her head in thought. “I don’t know how you were able to be in two places at once before, but there’s no way you can be in one place at once with two people. You’ve been scrambling around all night haven’t you?”

Well she wasn’t too far off the mark with that assumption. She wasn’t done talking yet though.

“Now what would be the best way to break the news?” she wondered aloud, tapping her finger on her chin. “Ah! I know!” Her eyes were alight with devious glee. “How about when I’m elected Homecoming Queen! Then I’ll have everyone’s attention!”

“You don’t know you’ll be elected,” Amber cut in.

CL let out an arrogant laugh. “I’ve been Homecoming Queen four years running. What makes this year any different?”

Amber smirked and put an arm around you. “Mary Sue wasn’t here for the past four years,” she answered.

“Please! Who ever heard of the new girl changing the status quo?”

She had a point there. You had never heard of such a thing. You really felt like your whole world was ending. There was no way you would be able to finish this night with your reputation or your self-respect intact.

CL walked right up to you and jabbed a well-manicured finger into your chest. “I will destroy you for what you did to Himchan,” she snarled. “And tonight,” she pointed to the door, “they’re all gonna know what a low-life two-timing social climber you really are.” With a final grin, she left the bathroom.

You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding in and turned back to lean over the sink. Amber started stroking your hair comfortingly.

“It’s okay,” she said. “We won’t let her tell anyone—“

“She doesn’t need to tell anyone!” you cried. “Everyone already knows! Who hasn’t seen me with two different dates tonight?”

Amber seemed at a loss. You sighed, your heart sunk.

“I need some fresh air,” you muttered, and straightened up to head for the door.

Amber gaped after you. “What? You—no—you can’t leave! What about Him—“ She tried to stop you, but the bathroom door opened and she cut herself off. Krystal walked through it and smiled when she saw the two of you.

“Hi Mary Sue!” she said. “You’re not leaving are you?”

“No,” you assured her. “I’m just stepping outside for a bit to get some fresh air.”

“Oh,” she murmured. “Well don’t take too long, okay?”

“Yeah,” you answered and hurried out the door, unaware of the concerned looks exchanged between Krystal and Amber. You just needed to get outside, away from this stifling chaos. You burst through the front doors and were met with crisp cool air.

 

Amber hurried out of the bathroom and found Key on the edge of the dance floor. “Mary Sue is outside,” she informed him.

“What?! I thought she was just in the bathroom, what is she doing outside?” He was getting frantic, the stress of keeping everybody separate clearly getting to him.

“She won’t be too long,” Amber tried to reconcile.

“You were supposed to make sure she didn’t do something stupid,” Key yelled. He turned, furious, and held his hands up to his head like he was trying to figure out what to do.

“You know, this isn’t exactly easy for the rest of us,” Amber shouted angrily back. “Especially Mary Sue. How do you think it feels to have everybody gossiping about you like you’re in the tabloids?!”

“Go get her!” Key shouted, pointing towards the doors.

“Excuse me?”

“Go get her, and bring her back here,” he said again.

Amber shook her head in disbelief, clenching her jaw. “No,” she answered. “I’m done with this. I am going to dance with my date and have a good time.” She started for the dance floor, but Key grabbed her arm to stop her. “What!”

“Give me your ear piece,” Key ordered.

Amber took out her earpiece and angrily shoved it into Key’s open hand. She then stalked off toward the dance floor to find Krystal again.

 

Jonghyun was having the best time of his life. He and Donghae were at the front by the DJ dancing, and he couldn’t believe how well things were going tonight. Suddenly, a slow song came on. Jonghyun watched the crowd nervously as couples paired off and started dancing more intimately. He suddenly felt very anxious.

Donghae reached a hand out toward his date, which Jonghyun took, and the latter followed the former’s lead in a slow swaying dance.

Was it hotter in here than it was before? Jonghyun suddenly felt really hot. He felt Donghae move closer to him, sending his heart rate up too. He chanced a look up to Donghae’s face and was met with a warm smile, and Jonghyun couldn’t help but smile back.

Yeah. This night was going well.

Then Key appeared out of nowhere and tapped Donghae on the shoulder, breaking the moment. “Mind if I cut in?” he asked.

Being the gentleman he was, Donghae allowed for Key to take his date away from him for this dance, to which Jonghyun reluctantly complied, figuring that whatever the reason Key had for taking him away from Donghae, it was probably somewhat important, so he had better follow.

Key danced Jonghyun a short distance away from Donghae, moving himself closer so that he could speak in Jonghyun’s ear. “Mary Sue is going to be out for a while,” he said.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know how long, but you need to cover for her while she’s gone.” He made to put some of Jonghyun’s hair behind his ear, which made him blush in momentary confusion, and put something around his ear instead. “That’s an ear piece,” Key explained. “So I can talk to you directly. Amber’s not helping us anymore, so it’s up to us now.”

Key danced them in the direction of the refreshments table.

“What are you--?”

“Himchan’s waiting for Mary Sue to come back from the bathroom,” Key explained. “You need to pretend to be her, and I’ll keep on the look out for Donghae for you. We’ll just have to keep going back and forth between Himchan and Donghae until Mary Sue gets back.” He pushed Jonghyun suddenly in the direction of the table, where Himchan was standing looking rather upset.

Jonghyun turned back around, but Key had suddenly disappeared into the crowd.

“Don’t worry,” he heard Key’s voice say in his ear. “I’m with you.”

With that meek confidence boost, Jonghyun turned back to Himchan. He noticed Himchan’s eyes narrow as he approached.

“What took you so long?” he asked, jaw slightly clenched.

Jonghyun had to make up an excuse. “Uh…” He really wasn’t good at improvising. “There was a line at the bathroom,” he said. “I had to wait a long time.”

Himchan considered this for a moment as Jonghyun waited tensely for his reaction. He seemed to relax a little bit though, thankfully. “Okay,” he said, allowing himself to smile a little bit. “Let’s dance, then.” He took Jonghyun by the arm and pulled him toward the dance floor again.

 

You gulped down a shuddering breath of the cool night air. This night had really taken a toll on you. You leaned back against the wall of the building and slid down, bringing your knees up and folding your arms over them. You put your head in your arms and let the tears fall.

“You shouldn’t cry,” said a familiar deep voice to your right. Startled, you snapped your head up to look at the person it belonged to. He was leaning against a tree, shrouded in darkness, so you couldn’t see his face, but something about him set you on edge.

“Who’s there?” you called out.

He responded with a low chuckle. “Crying doesn’t suit you,” he growled, stepping out of the shadows. Orange light from a street lamp fell over him and illuminated his face.

Your breath hitched in your throat. It was the man who had attacked you the night you were dress shopping. You gulped, your heart racing, as you stood up slowly, ready to make a break for it.

You steeled yourself and took a running step to your left. You screamed and stumbled backward when you were met with the dark pools of his almond-shaped eyes directly in front of your face. He was inches away from you now, and you were backed up against the wall. He leered at you. You were trapped.

 

“Oh no!” Jonghyun exclaimed, bringing his hand to his open mouth and faking a distressed expression.

Himchan’s eyebrows drew together. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I think I left something in the bathroom earlier,” Jonghyun answered.

Himchan clenched his jaw, annoyed. “Is it important?”

Jonghyun fought for words. “I-it—I just need to go get it real quick,” he said. “It’ll only be a minute!”

With that, he quickly left Himchan and returned to Donghae at the refreshments table.

He had been running back and forth for a while now, and boy was it tiring! Every time Key’s voice told him to return to his other date or warned him that someone was coming that shouldn’t see him with one or the other, he had to make up some excuse and leave. He had already used the “I have to go to the bathroom to freshen up” excuse twice, had abused the hell out of the “I forgot something over there” excuse, and had even tried the “I want to see my other friends” excuse once. He was running out of excuses! Several times, he had just left without one, leaving Himchan or Donghae standing alone and slightly confused, wondering where he had gone off to.

“Are you okay?” Donghae asked.

Jonghyun laughed nervously. “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

Donghae sighed. “It’s just,” he brushed a strand of hair from Jonghyun’s face. “You seem a bit… frantic,” he concluded.

Jonghyun tried to relax a little then and gave Donghae a reassuring smile. “I’m fine,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be more relaxed from now on.”

Just then, Jonghyun noticed Himchan walking angrily in their direction. Oh no, he really hoped Himchan couldn’t see Donghae with him, but by the look on his face, that wasn’t likely. He had to get Donghae away from here, but how? What could he do? He was so bad at improvising!

Thinking quickly, he ladled himself of cup of punch and then immediately spilled it all over Donghae, because spilling beverages always seemed to get him out of tight situations. Donghae stepped back in surprise.

“I’m so sorry,” Jonghyun said quickly.

“It’s okay,” Donghae said, holding up his hands and rejecting Jonghyun’s help. “I’ll just go clean it up in the bathroom,” he said, and then headed off toward the exit.

Jonghyun felt really bad about that. Donghae had looked so confused in that instant, almost hurt. But he couldn’t dwell on it for long, because Himchan grabbed his arm and forcefully turned Jonghyun to look at him.

“Forgot something in the bathroom, huh?” he asked angrily.

Jonghyun’s mouth opened and closed as he grasped for an explanation. “Y-yeah,” he stuttered. “I found it though.”

“Why did I just see you talking with Lee Donghae?” Himchan demanded. “Did you forget who you came here with?”

“No,” Jonghyun responded. “Of course not. I just…” He looked around, thinking quickly. “H-he said something insulting, so I…poured punch on him.” He finished his story meekly.

For a moment, he was afraid Himchan wouldn’t believe him and accuse him of cheating on him or something. But then Himchan’s smirk was back on his face and his eyes lit up in amusement.

“Did you really?” he chuckled. Jonghyun nodded. “I’m impressed,” Himchan admitted. Jonghyun let out a breath of relief before he was dragged back to the dance floor by Himchan.

How much longer did he have to keep up this charade? What could Mary Sue possibly be doing that was more important than this?

 

“You know,” breathed the tall man as he loomed over you, “I never did get the chance to introduce myself before.” He cocked his head as he tried to meet your gaze, but you were looking down in fear. “You asked me for my name, didn’t you?”

Unable to speak, you merely nodded.

“Seunghyun,” he answered you softly. “But I go by TOP.” He grinned, and his teeth gleamed in the moonlight. “Nobody uses their original names in the clan. Once we’re reborn, we’re given a new one.”

You briefly met his penetrating stare before your eyes snapped down again. “C-clan?” you asked.

He chuckled, a deep low sound in his throat. “You know what I am, don’t you?”

You looked up at him again, and this time you didn’t look away from his face. He raised an eyebrow at you and his smile widened, and suddenly your eyes flickered to his mouth, where two extremely sharp canines had been revealed. You gasped.

“You’re…you’re—“

“Vampire,” he whispered.

You couldn’t believe it. You kept staring at those teeth, so sharp and gleaming white, your mind flashing back to that night. How close those teeth had been to sinking into your throat. You had felt them graze against your skin.

“Are you going to kill me?” you whispered.

He chuckled again, but he seemed less amused. “No,” he growled. “Not that I’m not tempted…But alas,” his fingers left the wall beside your head to trail down your neck and you shivered. “You have a new trinket, I see.”

He took hold of the chain holding the Phoenix Talisman around your neck, which you had made a habit of wearing every day ever since the night it was given to you.

“I hadn’t prepared for you to have this,” he muttered regretfully.

You were relieved to know the talisman’s protection worked. At least you weren’t about to die in a few seconds. You took a moment to calm down before the vampire’s voice brought your heart rate back up again.

“No matter,” he said. “You’ll still die tonight.”

 

Donghae walked out of the bathroom after cleaning as much of the punch off of himself as he could. Something was up with Mary Sue tonight, and he was a little worried for her. She had never acted quite like this before. And when she poured punch on him, it had seemed so deliberate. He just didn’t know what to think.

He was about to go back to the gym when he chanced a glance out a window and was met with a shocking sight. He found himself running outside into the cool air instead.

 

“Mary Sue?” Oh no.

You looked to see Donghae in front of the doors he had just run through. You could see the progression of his thoughts as his expression changed, his eyes shifting from your face to TOP to TOP’s arms resting against the wall on either side of you.

“What’s going on?” he asked, and his tone made it seem as though he just didn’t know what to think anymore.

You wanted to call out to him, to tell him to run back inside and be far away from this, or maybe even explain that this isn’t at all what it looks like, but no words would come out.

You noticed TOP’s expression change from an amused grin to slightly terse when he saw Donghae. He exhaled through his nose and brought one hand up in the air. Then he simply snapped his fingers.

Immediately, three others, presumably vampires from the same clan as TOP, surrounded the three of you. Two of them appeared on either side of Donghae. He looked around, completely startled and confused, before he collapsed to the ground; one of them had knocked him out.

“Donghae!” you cried out, finally finding your voice. You tried to run to him, taking two steps away from the wall, before you felt a blow to the back of your head and the world went black.

 

Key was freaking out. He had just seen Donghae go outside. He must have seen Mary Sue out there or something. But it was the wrong Mary Sue! He sought out Amber and found her in the middle of the dance mob. He pulled her away from her date, and she tore her arm angrily from his grip.

“Donghae’s outside!” he yelled over the loud music.

She gave him an annoyed look. “So?”

“So, he’s out with Mary Sue, while Jonghyun’s in here with Himchan! They’re with the wrong dates!” He emphasized that last bit with flailing hands.

Amber rolled her eyes in response. “What does it matter?” she said. “As long as they’re in two different places instead of one place at the same time, doesn’t that make things a lot easier?”

Key just gave her a terrified look. This didn’t make things easier at all. They didn’t know how to act around each other’s dates, and Himchan and Donghae would both become really suspicious, and Key was sure that this whole charade would all come crashing down on them, and then where would they be? All of his hard work for nothing.

Amber didn’t wait for a response from Key and turned back to Krystal, intent on getting as much enjoyment out of this night as she possibly could. Maybe Key should just follow her example. He couldn’t take anymore of this Midsummer Night’s Dream shit. It was just too much.

He made his way to the refreshments and got himself a cup of punch, hoping to God that it had been spiked. But alas, he was met with disappointment. So he ventured to his locker where he kept a bottle of vodka, in case of emergencies. He figured now was an appropriate occasion.

 _Sorry Jonghyun,_ he thought, and then took a swig from the bottle. _Guess you’re on your own now._

 

Jonghyun had never felt so alone. He hadn’t heard from Key in he didn’t know how long, and he hadn’t seen Donghae since he spilled punch on him. He still felt really bad about that. What was worse, though, was that he had to stay with Himchan since then, and Himchan kept telling all his friends about how his girlfriend poured punch on that stuck-up jerk Donghae and put him in his place just like how she did with CL. Jonghyun wanted to say that Donghae wasn’t a stuck up jerk, he was the nicest most genuine guy he had ever met, and Himchan was the real jerk. But he knew he couldn’t do that.

Augh! This was not the reality he wanted!

If only Mary Sue would come back. What could she possibly be doing that she couldn’t come back to Homecoming to spend time with her date? What kind of person didn’t attend Homecoming with their own date?

“Excuse me,” said a loud voice over the speakers. The music had stopped and everyone’s attention turned to the front. “Do I have everyone’s attention?” The girl holding the microphone giggled when the room went silent. “Good! It’s time to announce the Homecoming King and Queen!”

Jonghyun had forgotten this part of the ceremony. He had been so caught up in frantically running back and forth between two dates that he didn’t even think about the King and Queen elections.

The girl spent some time listing off the names of Homecoming court, but Jonghyun didn’t pay any attention, instead scanning the crowd for Key or Amber or Mary Sue, anyone who could help him out with this whole ordeal.

“And now to announce the King!” said the girl with the microphone. She opened up the envelope in her hand and read off the name on the slip of paper inside. “This year’s Homecoming King is…Kim Himchan!”

The student body erupted in applause. Himchan smirked and left Jonghyun’s side to accept his crown, and he stood there in front of the room, gazing out at his subjects. Jonghyun rolled his eyes. That guy was seriously arrogant. What a jerk!

“And your Homecoming Queen…” The girl in the front opened another envelope. Jonghyun went back to scanning the crowd. Maybe during the King and Queen’s dance, he would be able to get away from Himchan while he was distracted and find Donghae and apologize for spilling punch on him.

The tension was building in the room as everyone waited in anticipation to hear who would be this year’s Queen. Jonghyun noticed a girl edging up toward the stage, and recognized CL, her face twisted into a devious smile.

“Mary Sue!”

Come again?

Everyone’s eyes locked onto Jonghyun, and he felt himself heating up in embarrassment. Himchan’s smirk bore down on him from above. CL’s shriek could be heard echoing through the vast room.

“What?!”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for supernatural violence and stupid plot devices.

Jonghyun couldn’t believe what he had just heard. _He_ was elected Homecoming Queen?

Well, Mary Sue. But Mary Sue was currently Missing In Action, and everyone was staring at _him_. There was no way out of this one.

He finally came to his senses and carefully stepped forward toward the stage where Himchan was waiting with that infuriating smirk. He passed CL, who was stunned into silence, standing on the edge of the crowd in disbelief. He numbly accepted the crown and stood beside Himchan, staring out at the rest of the student body, feeling hot under the lights and stares. Then the girl with the microphone spoke again.

“And now it’s time for the annual King and Queen dance!”

The crowd parted, leaving a round space in the center of the dance floor. Himchan’s hand extended to Jonghyun, and he reluctantly took it and allowed himself to be led onto the floor. A slow and melodic song started up and the King and Queen started to dance in front of the onlookers.

Jonghyun really didn’t want to be in this situation. He would much rather be seeking out Donghae right now, apologizing for that stunt he pulled with the punch. Or talking to Key or Amber or Mary Sue and finding a way out of this tangled mess of a plan. Hell, he would rather be unconscious right now than here dancing with this jerk. He didn’t envy Mary Sue at all for having to put up with him. Poor Mary Sue. Her debt to Himchan because of her accident with his expensive leather jacket had really brought a lot of misfortune in her life, forcing her to pretend to be his girlfriend and putting her under the pressure of high school popularity and being in the spotlight. Jonghyun was all about high school popularity, but he didn’t want to fake his way into it. Especially if it meant he would have to go along with this jerk’s every whim.

Speaking of which, that jerk had begun talking to him.

“You know,” Himchan murmured in Jonghyun’s ear, “I’ve really enjoyed the past few weeks.”

Jonghyun rolled his eyes, but Himchan couldn’t see. _Good for you,_ he thought bitterly.

“I like being around you, Mary Sue,” he continued. “And I know you’ve just been acting for the sake of your debt to me, but…” He paused and looked Jonghyun in the face, brushing a strand of his hair behind his ear. “Consider your debt to me paid,” he said with a grin. “You don’t have to pretend to be my girlfriend anymore.”

Jonghyun smiled wide and let out a small sigh of happiness. Maybe Himchan wasn’t such a big jerk. He was letting Mary Sue go!

Himchan smiled back, encouraged by Jonghyun’s reaction. “I want to make us official,” he said.

Jonghyun’s smile fell. “Huh?”

“I want to date for real,” Himchan said.

Jonghyun was at a complete loss for words. Date Himchan? He was completely repulsed by the idea, and he almost rejected him right then and there. But he stopped himself, because he was pretending to be Mary Sue right now.

Come to think of it, though, Mary Sue didn’t seem to like Himchan so much either. She always looked so depressed whenever she was around him, and Jonghyun could understand why. Himchan was controlling and arrogant, and all he cared about was his stupid high school popularity. He was nothing like Donghae.

Lee Donghae was a way better person than this Kim Himchan. Mary Sue was lucky to be engaged to him. And she had an obligation, as Donghae’s fiancé, to _not_ date other people. Everybody was so worried about her keeping up the charade of staying faithful to Himchan, when really Donghae was the person she needed to stay faithful to. Fake dating was bad enough. Jonghyun wasn’t about to let his sister date this jerk for real.

“Mary Sue?”

Jonghyun just realized the two of them had stopped dancing, and the entire school was staring at the two of them in the middle of the dance floor. Himchan looked around nervously. Jonghyun just glared at him. “That wasn’t the deal,” he stated firmly.

Confused murmurs rolled through the crowd.

Himchan let out a flustered chuckle. “What are you doing?” he asked.

Jonghyun clenched his teeth. This charade had gone on for far too long. “The deal,” he started, “was that I _pretend_ to be your girlfriend to get CL off your back.”

Himchan tried to laugh this off, but the room was silent now, and everybody had heard what Jonghyun said.

“I think I’ve paid my debt to you in full for ruining your leather jacket.” Jonghyun brusquely walked past Himchan and through the parting crowd toward the doors. As an afterthought, he tore the crown from his head and threw it on the ground before he left Himchan standing alone in the middle of the crowd.

Whatever Mary Sue was doing right now, Jonghyun thought it couldn’t have been nearly as interesting as what was happening here.

 

“Mary Sue?”

The words echoed in your ears. The world was comprised of nothing but echoes.

“Mmh,” you groaned, trying to shake yourself awake. You felt a pair of cool hands cupping your face.

“Mary Sue?” you heard again. You struggled to regain consciousness and finally opened your eyes. You blinked away the bleariness and your vision focused on Donghae, who was hovering above you, looking extremely worried. “Are you okay?” he asked you.

You sat up slowly, holding your head to make the room stop spinning. You didn’t really know how to answer that question. You were tired of overthinking things though, so you went with honestly. “No.”

Donghae sighed and sat back. Once your head was clear, you took a moment to examine your surroundings.

You and Donghae were in a dark musty room. You felt like it was in a basement, since there were no windows, and all the walls were bare brick. Lit torches lined the walls and cast flickering shadows around the room. The only door was made of thick steel, and you doubted it wasn’t locked.

“Are we trapped in here?” you asked your companion.

Donghae looked up and sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “I already tried the door. It’s bolted shut.”

You let out your breath in a huff. “How long was I out?”

He looked to you and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just woke up a few minutes ago.”

You nodded, trying to accept the situation. “What do they want with us?” you wondered aloud.

Donghae’s eyebrows furrowed. “Ransom?” he guessed after a moment.

You remembered that he knew even less about what was going on than you did. You at least knew about the vampire thing.

“So what do we do?” you asked.

“There’s nothing we can do,” he answered calmly. “Not now at least.”

You nodded soberly and shivered. It was rather cold in here. Donghae took notice of this and moved to sit next to you, draping his jacket over your shoulders. He wrapped his arm around you then, and you felt grateful for his warmth.

You felt him sigh deeply. “I’m sorry,” he said.

You turned your head towards him, confusion evident on your features. “For what?” you asked. It wasn’t his fault you two were kidnapped by vampires and brought to their underground lair. If anything, it was probably your fault he was caught up in this with you.

“You weren’t yourself today,” Donghae said. “You were just so frantic at Homecoming, and when you spilled punch on me”—you tried to conceal a snort, but Donghae seemed not to notice—“I could tell how nervous you must have been by the whole situation.”

You didn’t really know what he was trying to tell you, but he continued.

“I realize now, I’ve told you all about my concerns surrounding this marriage, and you’ve helped me so much just listening to me. But I never once thought to ask about your feelings or consider what kind of toll this must be taking on you.” He looked down at your face. “And for that, I’m sorry.”

You smiled warmly in response, at a loss for words, because you somehow felt that whatever you said wouldn’t be nearly as eloquent as anything Donghae said.

“Tell me now,” Donghae said.

You raised your eyebrows in response, which he smiled at.

“There’s nobody around,” he said. “It’s just us in here. Let’s be honest with each other. Tell me how you feel about the engagement.”

You took in a deep breath and gathered your thoughts. Nobody had really asked you this honestly, and you hadn’t had much time lately to give it much thought. You tried your best to answer Donghae openly, somehow feeling that you owed him that much, since you sort have been inadvertently lying to him for the past few weeks.

You opened your mouth to speak, but no words came out at first as you tried to find where to begin. “Marriage is for love,” you finally started. “That one thing I know for sure.” You turned to look at Donghae, hesitant to say what your next thought was. But Donghae said to be honest. And you felt like you could trust that. “Donghae,” you continued. “I don’t…” This was harder to say than you thought.

“Don’t love me,” he finished for you.

You met his eyes and opened your mouth to protest, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. He was right. You didn’t love him.

He surprised you with a smile. “It’s okay,” he said. “I don’t love you either.”

You weren’t sure if that made you feel better or not. But if you were being honest with each other, you supposed it was a good thing.

“The truth is,” he said, “I’m in love with somebody else.”

“Oh,” you responded. You didn’t really expect that.

“I’m glad we could admit this to each other,” Donghae said. “I feel as if I haven’t really known you before this. Like I’ve been dating somebody else for the past few weeks and I’m only getting to know the real Mary Sue now.”

You giggled nervously. “Yeah,” you said. “Me too.”

For a fleeting moment, you regretted those times you had spent with Himchan instead of Donghae. Donghae was extremely nice and genuine, and if you had bothered to adhere to your responsibilities to your family and your engagement, you would have known that. Now you understood why Jonghyun seemed to like him so much, and you envied him just for how much he had gotten to know Donghae over the weeks since your engagement. You hoped your brother was doing better than you were right now.

 

Jonghyun stormed through the empty halls without any direction in mind. He was just going wherever he went, as long as it was away from Himchan and the rest of the dancegoers. He turned a corner, and was surprised to see Key sitting against his locker with a bottle in his hands. Jonghyun sat down next to him, and realized by the smell that it was a bottle of vodka, and Key may or may not have been a little bit drunk.

Jonghyun blew air out his cheeks. “Hey,” he said.

Key raised his head to look at Jonghyun with glazed and droopy eyes. He seemed to recognize Jonghyun then, as a low rumble of laughter escaped from . His head fell back on his locker with a clang.

“Are you okay?” Jonghyun asked, concern overriding his anger for the moment.

Key glanced at him sidelong. “What do you know about me?” he asked Jonghyun.

Jonghyun was at a loss. He wasn’t sure what Key was actually asking him, or what he meant by his question. “Uh…” he trailed. “I know that you’re my friend,” Jonghyun started. “Um… You like fashion.”

Key laughed without opening his mouth.

“I didn’t know before that you drink, but I know that now,” Jonghyun continued humorously.

“Have I ever asked you for anything?” Key turned his face slightly toward Jonghyun.

“N-no,” he answered.

“Can I ask you for something now?” Key asked with the most genuine expression Jonghyun had ever seen on his face.

Jonghyun hesitantly nodded his head, and Key considered him for a moment.

“Close your eyes,” Key said.

“Huh?”

“Just do it, close your eyes,” he slurred in a whisper.

Jonghyun complied, not really sure where this was going.

“And promise me something,” Key continued to slur.

“S-sure.”

“D-don’t… don’t hate me,” Key said. “Okay?”

Jonghyun shook his head. “Of course, I would never hate you,” he assured.

“Okay,” Key mumbled. “Good.”

Jonghyun waited in silence, not really sure what was going to happen next or what Key’s motives for this silliness were. He heard the clink of an empty bottle and was suddenly startled by a weight on his lap. He opened his eyes to see Key lying down with his head on Jonghyun’s lap, fast asleep. Jonghyun exhaled and smiled to himself, running his fingers through Key’s soft hair as if he was comforting him. This was kind of weird—hell, this whole night had been weird—but something about this moment made Jonghyun feel warm inside. For a little while, he was able to forget about the chaos of the dance before and Mary Sue’s absence.

 

You were startled out of your stupor when you heard the clinking sound of the metal bolts being slid back from their locked position, and the thick metal door swung open, revealing TOP and several other people.

After a nod from TOP, the other three men roughly grabbed hold of you and Donghae and manhandled you out of the room. They led you down a dark corridor that was also lined by torches.

“Where are you taking us?” you demanded.

The blond man holding you smirked and answered, “To the clan leader.”

“Why?”

“That necklace of yours posed some obstacles for us tonight,” TOP responded, smirking. “We need to decide what to do with you.”

You were about to ask what they wanted with you in the first place when you entered a large, cavernous chamber that was filled with even more vampires and torches. In the center was a large throne, upon which sat a woman with short dark hair and eyes that glinted in the torchlight. She grinned at the sight of you, her sharp canines gleaming.

TOP and the other three vampires who brought you and Donghae knelt down before the throne, leaving you and Donghae standing awkwardly for a moment. When they straightened up, TOP was the first to speak.

“Leader Ga In,” he said. “Clan members. This is the girl of whom the prophecy tells.”

Your mouth stood agape. Prophecy?

“We have brought her here to fulfill the plan that will lead to the destruction of our oppressors and bring about a new era, one where we are free to roam the surface without fear or threat.”

He strode over to you and gestured to the chain around your neck. “Unfortunately, one of the Hunters got to her first and implemented a shield of sorts.” Several vampires around the room began hissing with distaste. TOP withdrew his hand and turned back to the woman on the throne, who was listening with interest. “It will take longer, but we can find a way around this.”

The leader, Ga In, cocked her head and spoke. “What do you propose?”

One of the men who brought you into the chamber stepped forward. Ga In’s sharp gaze flickered to him. “Rain?” she addressed him.

“We all know the strong bond a Hunter has with his talisman. Not only does it offer him protection, but it also has the potential to unlock hidden abilities.” Rain paced slowly, his dark eyes scanning the room full of vampires. “Abilities of a…supernatural nature.”

Ga In’s lips were pursed. “Your point?”

The blond who had held onto you cut in. “The point is, this Hunter feels a connection to the girl because she wears his talisman. I’m sure she feels the same connection to him,” he said, glancing to you.

You pondered this. From the moment you had accepted the Phoenix Talisman, you had felt a connection to the man who gave it to you.

“He will know if she’s in danger,” the blond continued. “And he’ll come running to her side.”

“And why, Xiah, would we want the Hunter to answer her distress call and come bursting into our lair?”

Xiah’s head bowed and he faltered, but the last vampire who had brought you in smirked and picked up the volley. “Because the Hunter no longer has its protection.”

As that thought hung in the air, Ga In’s face broke into a sly grin.

“Very good, Se7en,” she murmured. “We’ve been longing to lower their number for years, but the talismans have always made it nigh impossible.” Her gaze flickered back to the group before her and locked onto Donghae. “And this one?”

Se7en turned to see what she was referring to, then turned back to her. “He is of no use,” he said. “He was merely in the way.”

Ga In licked her lips. “And what do you think we should do with him? TOP?”

TOP smirked. “Whatever you see fit, Leader Ga In.”

She looked pleased. “Should we let him go?” she asked innocently. Laughter erupted from the rest of the clan.

“Well we can’t have him wandering the surface telling people about us,” said Rain, grinning. He looked at Donghae, who gulped in fear. “People would think he’s crazy.”

“We can’t have that,” Ga In agreed. “Very well then. Dispose of him.” She flicked her hand carelessly and stepped down from the throne, exiting out the opposite side of the chamber.

Donghae looked to you in a panic. You matched his expression, but you didn’t know what to do. The vampires began closing in on the two of you.

“Donghae,” you whispered, reaching out to grab his hand, but he was pulled away from you. You heard him yelp as sharp teeth sunk into his neck and your stomach dropped. “Donghae!” you screamed.

You were knocked off your feet by a sudden explosion. Your ears were ringing and your head was spinning for the second time that night. You looked around the chamber. Dust filled the air and rubble was falling from the walls and ceiling. Had the chamber collapsed on itself?

Then you noticed several fights had erupted. Armed men had infiltrated the crowd of vampires and were engaged in combat.

You felt a strong grip on your shoulder and you were lifted up on your feet. You turned around to see TOP standing over you, dragging you to the exit. You had no strength left to fight against him, still trying to regain your composure.

A familiar figure came from the side and knocked TOP away from you. The vampire landed against a hard stone wall. The tall man who had rescued you before was grinning down at you. He held his hand out and you took it.

“Let’s get you out of here,” he said and began leading you through the chamber.

“Wait!” you cried, stopping him. He turned back to you with a questioning look. Your eyes were searching the room. It was extremely chaotic. Rubble was still falling, bodies were flying and colliding, and some vampires had been injured or disfigured by the weapons of the Hunters who had burst in. Finally, your gaze fell on what you were looking for.

He was lying in the middle of the fray, under the threat of being trampled by feet in combat, pale and bleeding and forgotten. You immediately ran to him and fell to your knees. He was still alive and breathing, and his eyes met yours and twitched.

“Donghae,” you sobbed. “I’m sorry.” The words were barely audible, even without the added noise from the chaos of battle. “So sorry.”

“We have to go!” you could hear your rescuer shout. “Now!”

You couldn’t leave Donghae’s side. The Hunter rushed up to you and, rather than taking your hand and pulling you away, he took hold of Donghae and began dragging him to the edge of the chamber, away from the fight.

A few armed men were working their way to where you were, still fighting their way through the clan members.

“Hang in there,” your rescuer was telling Donghae. “You’ll be okay, just stay with me.” He looked up, his eyebrows drawn together in worry. “Kai!” he screamed.

A Hunter about twenty feet from you turned to you from the vampire he was fighting. He quickly realized the situation, nodded, and dealt a swift killing blow to his opponent before rushing over to the three of you.

The next thing you knew was a rushing sensation before you opened your eyes in a completely new surrounding.

 

Amber was walking through the hallways trying to find Key or Jonghyun, or preferably both at the same time. The dance was over now, and Amber hadn’t seen Jonghyun since he humiliated Himchan in front of the whole school, and Key had disappeared even before that. She had already said goodbye to Krystal, and she had even built up enough courage to give her a quick peck on the cheek before her sister Jessica took them home. So she needed to find Key now, because he was the only one who actually drove himself to the dance, and since Donghae already left, she was pretty much out of luck if she didn’t find him.

She finally did find Key in an otherwise empty hallway in front of his locker, and she was surprised to find him in the state he was in. He was drunk, hugging an empty vodka bottle like it was a teddy bear, but that wasn’t what surprised her. It was that he was asleep and curled up on Jonghyun’s lap, who had fallen asleep as well leaning against the wall of lockers.

She was hesitant to wake them. It was kind of cute actually. But then she got over it.

“Hey,” she whispered, shaking Jonghyun’s shoulder a little.

He awoke easily and looked up at her.

“We should get going now,” she said. “The dance is over.”

“Right,” Jonghyun mumbled. He carefully shifted himself and Key into a position where he could carry him. Amber relinquished the empty bottle from Key’s grip, and it was quickly replaced by Jonghyun’s neck. The trio made their way to the parking lot, and Amber was grateful that everybody else had pretty much all left by now, because Mary Sue carrying a guy so easily was an odd sight to behold.

Amber took Key’s keys from his jacket pocket and adopted the role of driver, seeing as Key was inebriated at the moment and Jonghyun literally had his arms full. They drove on towards Amber’s house in silence, reflections of streetlights gliding across the windshield.

“I’m sorry,” Amber said in a voice so low that Jonghyun barely heard.

“You are?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I abandoned you guys there. It just made it harder on you.”

Jonghyun smiled at this. “It’s okay,” he responded. “We should have known it was too crazy to work. Besides, I’d consider tonight a success.”

Amber chuckled. “Oh yeah? How’s that?”

“We never actually did get caught,” he pointed out. “And, I doubt Himchan will be bothering Mary Sue anymore. The thought of not having to cross dress anymore is just an added bonus,” he added gleefully.

Amber laughed in agreement. “I can’t believe Mary Sue and Donghae missed out on all the excitement,” she mused.

 

You looked around at the well lit room you were in. It had really high ceilings and intricate décor, and it reminded you of a cathedral. You wondered how you were suddenly here instead of the vampires’ lair you had just escaped from, but you had seen a lot of strange things tonight and were too exhausted to question it. You were just thankful you were out of any immediate danger.

“You guys are back so soon?” you heard someone say behind you, and you all turned around to see a fair-haired man with delicate features approaching you. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Donghae. “Where are the others?” he asked, sounding slightly more panicked.

“They’re fine,” said the tall man holding Donghae. “We had to get out of there quickly. Where’s Lay?”

“You _left_ them there?”

“Luhan.” They exchanged a look before the man in the doorway, Luhan, relented.

“I’ll get him,” he said and turned back the way he came, leaving the four of you.

Kai turned to the other Hunter. “I’m going back,” he said, and the other man nodded before Kai disappeared, leaving behind a wisp of smoke. You stared at the spot he vanished from, not believing your eyes.

Luhan returned with another person, presumably Lay, and the two of them took Donghae off of your rescuer’s hands and carried him down a corridor. You were about to follow them when the Hunter beside you held you back.

“With Lay taking care of him, he’ll be okay.” You looked up at him, eyes full of worry. “I promise.”

You sighed.

He looked down at you and gave a small smile. “How about some food?”

Once you were settled down in a bright, huge, welcoming kitchen with a steaming mug of hot cocoa in front of you, you took a deep breath, feeling a little comforted.

Your rescuer leaned over the counter and fixed his gaze on you. “You probably have a lot of questions,” he said.

You didn’t even know where to start. Well, actually—

“What’s your name?” It was getting tedious having to refer to this character as your rescuer, the tall man, and the Hunter, so you decided it was a good starting point.

He laughed. “Chanyeol. Sorry we weren’t formally introduced before.”

His warm smile was infectious.

“That was an easy one,” he said. “I’m sure you have something more interesting to ask about.”

“To be honest, I don’t even know where to start,” you admitted. “I just learned today that vampires are real. And you are…a Hunter?” You scrutinized him.

He nodded. “We’re all Hunters,” he confirmed. “There are twelve of us who live here, and our main purpose is to protect people from the covenant of vampires who threaten them.”

You pulled his Phoenix Talisman from beneath your dress. “Tell me about this.”

“I gave you that for protection,” he said. “I’m glad you’ve been wearing it.” He met your gaze and his lip drew upward. “What do you know about it?”

“Is it true you have some sort of supernatural connection to it?”

He nodded. “Of sorts.”

“And so, because I was wearing it, you felt a connection with me?”

“Yes,” he answered. “Didn’t you?”

His eyes were so bright when your gazes locked that you looked away and blushed. You cleared your throat. “Is that how you were able to find me?”

“Yes,” he nodded again. “And how I knew you were in trouble. It’s an emotional link,” he explained, gesturing to the talisman. “You only get a slight awareness of it, but I feel it pretty strongly.”

Your cheeks flushed a little when he said that. “What kinds of…powers can you have?” you asked.

He frowned a little in thought and his eyebrows furrowed. It was so freaking cute. Wait what? No, Mary Sue, focus.

“The thing about the talismans is they’re so full of power and potential,” Chanyeol began. “They can have a number of possible abilities,” he continued. “For example, Kai’s talisman has the ability to teleport, which you witnessed and experienced yourself.”

“What about your power?” you asked him.

He shrugged. “I haven’t unlocked it yet. Some just come more easily than others. Most of the Hunters here have reached the full potential of the powers granted by their talismans, but there’s still a few who haven’t, including me.”

He paused, gathering his thoughts. You nodded for him to continue.

“A Hunter has the capability to unlock the power within his own talisman, and he may or may not do so. In a way it’s up to fate. And the talismans have a way of…choosing the Hunter who is meant to possess it. There’s kind of a hint of destiny with each one.”

This information brought another question to the surface. “So why did you give it to me?”

He grinned and said matter-of-factly, “Because you’re the Chosen One.”

Your eyes widened and heat rose to your cheeks, but before you could respond, someone entered the kitchen, putting a stop to your conversation.

“Ayo, waddup Kris,” Chanyeol greeted the tall blond.

“Ayo wassup,” he responded, opening the fridge. He pulled out a can of soda and joined you and Chanyeol at the counter. “Who’s this?” He nodded in your direction.

“She’s that girl from a couple weeks ago,” Chanyeol answered. “Remember?”

Kris’s eyes fell on Chanyeol’s Phoenix talisman around your neck and he smirked. “Ah, the Chosen One.” He held out his hand for you to shake. “Nice to meet you...?”

“Mary Sue,” you said, placing your hand in his.

He nodded once and let your hand go. “Are the others back yet?” he asked, turning to Chanyeol.

“Man, what’s for dinner? I’m so freaking hungry!” Kai burst into the room, breaking the mellow atmosphere. “Suho!” he yelled, before teleporting out of the kitchen.

Chanyeol giggled. “Seems so.”

You heard loud voices pick up throughout the building, and it wasn’t long before the kitchen was full of bodies scavenging for food and the clamor of pots and pans. Everyone was shouting over one another, and you had never been in a room that felt so full of life before. You supposed it made sense for a group of men who were fully immersed in dealing with the undead to have to be full of life in order to live such a life.

“So you got into the place alright?” Kris was asking someone.

“Of course,” Kai answered. “D.O. used his talisman. It was amazing, he just put his hand on the ground and tore a hole through the entire place!”

Kai clapped a hand on one guy’s shoulder, and he smiled modestly, his round eyes looking down.

“And you should’ve seen Tao!” exclaimed a Hunter with a square jaw and a pleasant smile. “Are you sure your hidden power isn’t martial arts or something?” he asked a shy looking man with dark hair and circles under his eyes, who just gave a small smile in response. “I’m serious, the way this guy fights, you’d swear he was moving in hyper speed!”

Kris raised his eyebrows, impressed.

“So you all were okay then?” Luhan asked a younger looking boy with a mop of brown hair. “None of you got hurt or anything?”

“We’re fine,” Kai reassured him with exasperation. “Sehun did well for his first battle. There’s no need to worry so much.”

Luhan breathed a sigh of relief.

A dark-haired Hunter who always seemed to be smiling, whose name you learned was Suho, announced that dinner was done and everyone clambered to get some food.

When everyone had settled and their loud voices were hindered by the food in their mouths, Sehun turned to you.

“So you’re the Chosen One?” he asked innocently.

You gaped, feeling your cheeks heat at the sudden attention everyone paid you at the mention of this.

“Everyone, this is Mary Sue,” Chanyeol said, once again coming to your rescue. “She’s the girl in the prophecy.”

“What’s this prophecy about, anyway?” you asked them.

“Oh, just your average, run-of-the-mill prediction about the apocalypse,” muttered Kai.

“And how do you know I’m the girl in the prophecy?” you asked carefully.

They all grinned at you. “Because you’re the Chosen One,” Suho said.

“But how do you _know_?” you demanded.

Chanyeol took your hand, and it calmed you down immensely. You found yourself gazing into his eyes. “I just knew as soon as I saw you,” he said. “There’s no way for me to explain it. I just felt this connection the moment we met, and I knew our paths were destined to cross again.”

You laughed uneasily, aware of all the eyes that were fixed on you. “Well it certainly helps that you gave me your talisman,” you muttered, eliciting laughter from a few of the Hunters.

“Even so,” Chanyeol continued, “you can’t continue to question your own destiny when all of us, and even the entire clan of vampires, are certain that you are the Chosen One.”

He had a point there. You still didn’t understand why everyone kept insisting you were the Chosen One. You certainly didn’t feel very Chosen. But how could you continue to question it when everyone was so sure of it? This was your destiny.

“And…what do I do as the Chosen One?” you asked uncertainly.

“Simple,” Kris answered. “You’re the key to helping us put a stop to the Covenant’s plan.”

“What is the Covenant planning?” you clarified.

Kai shrugged. “Vampire apocalypse,” he stated simply.

Before you could ask for a little more information than that, Lay entered the room. You stood up and rushed over to him. He seemed to have read your mind, because he held up his hands to stop you from speaking.

“You’re friend is okay,” he said, and you let out an enormous breath in relief. “He needs to rest for a while, but he’ll survive.”

“He’s not going to turn into a vampire?”

The healer cocked his head in thought. “Well, if he starts hissing at crosses and develops a penchant for blood, you’ll know.”

You stared at him, eyes wide in shock and fear.

He chuckled. “I’m kidding,” he said, and walked past you to get himself a plate of food. “He’ll be just fine. Not undead and very much alive.”

You nodded, still unsure and uneasy, but Lay seemed pretty positive about his diagnosis.

You suddenly felt very exhausted. It must’ve been quite apparent, because several of the Hunters seemed to notice.

“I think it’s time Mary Sue got home,” Kris said.

Chanyeol stood up. “I’ll take you home if you want,” he said, and you agreed.

 

Jonghyun sighed, relieved to be out of that dress and the wig and those god awful shoes, and made his way from the bathroom to the guest room in Amber’s house. She had offered for Jonghyun and Key to stay the night there, since it was late, and Key was inebriated and probably shouldn’t be left alone. She had a guest room for them to stay in, and she could lend Jonghyun some of Donghae’s clothes to sleep in. This was the selling point for Jonghyun.

He went back in the bedroom where Key was fast asleep on the guest bed, which Amber had helped Jonghyun put Key into after carrying him up the stairs, and which the two of them would have to share for the night. Jonghyun didn’t mind though. He went over and took off Key’s shoes to make him more comfortable, and then carefully took his jacket off too, trying not to wake him.

Jonghyun set him back down on the bed, but when he tried to move away, he was held back by Key gripping his—or rather Donghae’s, Jonghyun felt giddy at the thought—tee shirt. His eyebrows furrowed in distress, but his eyes were still mostly closed.

“Don’t leave me,” Key mumbled in his barely awakened state.

“I’m right here,” Jonghyun whispered to comfort him.

Key nodded then and released his fistful of fabric before falling back into slumber. Jonghyun crawled in the other side of the bed and turned off the lamp before following him there.

 

You sighed as you stumbled your way into your room. You couldn’t wait to be out of this dress and these god-awful shoes. You had been through so much tonight, and you just wanted to pass out and never wake up again.

Chanyeol had taken you and Donghae home, having discreetly broken into Donghae’s house to drop him off in his bed and let him sleep. He bid you goodnight, and you would’ve been persuaded to stay with him just from his big eyes and his adorable pout had you not been so drained from the events of the past few hours.

You sighed as you curled into bed, relief washing over you. Your mind replayed the events of that night, from the beginning of the dance to now.

When had your life gotten so complicated? You were tangled up between Himchan and Donghae, and now had gotten caught up in a prophecy about vampires and vampire hunters and a vampire apocalypse. You just wanted to turn back the clock to a time when your life was simpler!

You considered when that would be. Then it hit you that this all started with your arranged marriage with Donghae. Your life would have been totally normal if not for that!

And you had just had a heart-to-heart with Donghae tonight, and neither of you wanted to go through with it. You really wished there was a way out of it…

What were you thinking? You both had a responsibility to your families to go through with this marriage. You couldn’t just wish your way out of it!

Your eyes snapped open. Maybe you _could_ just wish your way out of it. You sat up and scanned your nightstand, and a colorful glimmer caught your eye. The Rainbow Wishing Shell.

You thought back to what Krystal had said. _“You can make a wish on it and it’ll grant your wish, no matter what you wish for!”_

_No matter what you wish for._

You took the shell from the nightstand and gazed into its shimmery depths. How would you do this? You took a deep breath.

“Okay, Rainbow Wishing Shell,” you said, feeling a bit silly talking to yourself in an empty room. You cleared your throat. “Um…I wish for a way out of my arranged marriage.”

Your heart thudded in anticipation. You waited for something epic to happen. For the clock to turn backward to a time when your life was simpler. For a burst of blinding light that would illuminate the answer to your problems. For a unicorn to fly through your window— _something_!

But nothing happened.

Sighing, you placed the shell back on the nightstand and curled back under your covers. Guess you would just have to work this one out on your own.

You didn’t notice the shimmer of color that travelled across the Rainbow Wishing Shell.

 

The next morning, you were awoken by your phone ringing frantically at you. You glared at it on your nightstand, bitterly wondering what could possibly be so important to wake you up this early, and picked it up.

“Hello?” you said into the phone groggily.

“Mary Sue!” you heard your brother’s voice say on the other end. He sounded distressed.

“What is it?” you asked, suddenly wide-awake.

“It’s Donghae,” he breathed into the phone. “He’s…”

 _He’s what?_ you thought frantically. A vampire? Had Lay been wrong? Had Donghae really started hissing at crosses? Had he started drinking people’s blood? _Had he already killed everybody else in his family, and now gone after Jonghyun, and now Jonghyun was calling you for help or at least to tell his twin sister that he loved her before he died?!_

“He’s a fish.”

…

“Excuse me?” You had heard people refer to Donghae as a fish before, because of his looks, but why was Jonghyun telling you this. “Why are you telling me this?” you asked him.

“No, Mary Sue,” Jonghyun urged. “Donghae… He’s a fish. He’s really a fish, Mary Sue.”

“What do you mean?” you asked. He couldn’t really mean that Donghae was literally a fish. That was just plain impossible.

“I mean Donghae… I don’t know how it happened… but he’s turned into a fish,” he explained. “He’s a fish, Mary Sue.”

…

“What?!”


	15. Chapter 15

You were driving your Lamborghini down a street crowded by run-down looking buildings, clutching Chanyeol’s Phoenix Talisman. You almost returned it to him last night when he took you home, but he had insisted you keep it for a while longer, so he could maintain the connection you two shared. Now you were depending on that connection to see you through.

You were following vague hunches, taking seemingly random turns through an unfamiliar part of town, when you pulled up to an old church that seemed like it hadn’t been in use for quite some time. Your gut was telling you this was right, and you hoped you could trust it.

You parked and exited the car, carefully stepping up to the stained glass doors and pulling the handle. They creaked open and you peeked your head inside. This was familiar. You breathed in the cool and musty air and walked between the pews, approaching the podium that stood proudly before them. You looked around, spinning in circles and staring at the stained glass window scenes, before you heard a voice behind you.

“Mary Sue?”

You whipped around to see Chanyeol standing behind the podium, having emerged from a hidden door in the stone wall. He looked surprised to see you, but he had obviously felt your presence since he came to greet you.

You breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him. “I need your help.”

The two of you argued as you walked through the corridors of the Hunters’ hideout.

“I can’t help you,” Chanyeol was saying, exasperated.

“Please,” you protested. “He wasn’t like this before, and I don’t know what to do! I’m afraid I brought it upon him!”

“No,” Chanyeol said as he burst through the doors to a room full of books. A large tome was lying open at a table, and he sat down by it, resuming his work from before he retrieved you from the chapel. “It doesn’t make any sense. Vampires can turn people into vampires, but they can’t turn them into _fish_. I’ve never heard of anything like it before.”

“Just because you haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean it can’t happen!” you cried, flustered. “There has to be _something_ you can do for him to turn him back into a human.”

Chanyeol held up his hands and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mary Sue, but I’m at a loss. Whatever turned him into a fish, it has nothing to do with what happened last night in the vampires’ lair.”

You fell silent, not knowing what else you could say. You pouted at the thought of not being able to help Donghae.

Chanyeol looked up at your expression—or maybe he felt how distressed you were—and put his head in his hands and sighed, rubbing his temples.

“Look, can you think of anything else strange that’s happened?” he offered. “Anything else that seemed supernatural that you’ve come into contact with recently?”

You shook your head. Then it dawned on you, and your eyes widened.

“What is it?” Chanyeol asked.

You looked at him. You didn’t want to sound stupid, but…

“Have you ever heard of a Rainbow Wishing Shell?”

He laughed. “Well, yeah, but…” His expression turned serious. “Oh, no. You didn’t.”

You could only give him a sheepish expression.

“You _did_?” he asked incredulously. “Mary Sue, no!” He stood up and started pacing. “You don’t make wishes on Rainbow Wishing Shells!”

“How should I have known?” you snapped at him. “I didn’t know it wouldn’t work!”

“The problem is that they _do_ work, but they don’t work in any way that makes sense.” You looked at him quizzically. “Rainbow Wishing Shells can grant any wish, but they always do it in the stupidest, most nonsensical way possible.”

“You’re telling me the Rainbow Wishing Shell turned Donghae into a fish because of what I wished for?”

“Do you have a better explanation?”

You gaped at him. “Well, how do we turn him back then?”

He shook his head. “No potion or spell or ritual will reverse the effects of a Rainbow Wishing Shell,” he explained. “Something else has to be done, something specific to each wish, in order to break the enchantment.”

“It’s specific to each wish?”

He nodded. You slumped down into a chair.

“Well how are we supposed to know what it is then?”

He stuck his lower lip out. “What did you wish for?” he asked.

You hesitated. That was a very personal question.

“It might help us figure out what Donghae needs to be human again,” he pressed.

You relented, sighing. “I wished for a way out of our arranged marriage,” you grumbled.

“Arranged marriage?” His eyebrows were drawn together.

“Yeah,” you said. “We were in an arranged marriage. But we both didn’t love each other, and marriage is for love. So, I…wished for a way out of it.”

“Oh,” he said. “So you don’t love him?” he asked after a time.

You shook your head.

There was another pause. “Do you love someone else?” he asked.

You gave him a warning look, trying to ignore the blush creeping into your cheeks.

“Okay, nevermind,” he said, faltering. Then he looked up again. “What about him?”

You thought for a moment. “Yeah,” you said. “He did say he loved someone else.”

Chanyeol grinned. “I think that’s it then,” he said.

You looked at him questioningly. “What’s it?”

“He needs his true love to be turned back into a human,” he explained. “Think about it,” he responded to your skeptical expression. “If his true love is the only thing that will turn him from a fish to a human, then that means that he’ll have to admit to loving whoever his true love is. That’s what will get you out of the arranged marriage,” he said happily.

You thought about it, and it made total sense. How poetic it would be if the Rainbow Wishing Shell really had acknowledged that the main thing keeping the arranged marriage from breaking up was Donghae’s inability to face his feelings and let go of his formal responsibilities, and so would put him in a situation that would force him to admit his true feelings and be with his true love and dissolve the arranged marriage that neither of you ever wanted to be a part of.

You pulled out your cell phone.

“What are you doing?” Chanyeol asked.

“Calling my brother,” you answered.

 

Jonghyun was pacing back and forth in Amber’s room and she and Key watched him worriedly from the bed. This wasn’t at all how he had pictured his morning going. He was just bringing a friendly cup of coffee to his future brother-in-law, thinking that it would be a nice gesture and a thank you for letting Jonghyun borrow his clothes. But Donghae wasn’t in any state to be drinking coffee when Jonghyun found him—a clownfish flopping in between the sheets. He rushed to the bathroom and dumped the coffee, replacing it with water, and ran back to rescue Donghae.

So now Donghae was in a coffee mug, and it had taken a while for Jonghyun to convince both Key and Amber that, no, this wasn’t just a clownfish, it was the Lee Donghae, and they needed to help him figure out a way to fix this, because they couldn’t have Mary Sue’s fiancé going around being a fish. Mary Sue can’t marry a fish! The notion of that ever happening was just absurd and unheard of.

“Let’s call Mary Sue,” Jonghyun had said finally. “She’ll know what to do.”

And here they were now, waiting for her to call back. Finally, the phone buzzed through the tense atmosphere, and Jonghyun answered it a second later.

“Hello?” he almost yelled into the receiver.

“I know how to save Donghae,” Mary Sue said.

A wave of relief washed over him. “How?”

“True love,” she said.

Jonghyun blinked. “That’s it?” he asked.

“Just find his true love,” she said. “That’s the only way Donghae can become human again.”

“Well, then you come over here, Mary Sue. You’re his fiancé,” Jonghyun said.

“No, that won’t work,” she argued.

“Why not?” How could it not work? Mary Sue and Donghae were supposed to be together, weren’t they?

“No,” she continued. “I’m not his true love, so I can’t do anything.”

“What? Mary Sue, of course you are! You have an obligation—“

“No!” she yelled. Jonghyun was taken aback. “I’m not, because when I wished on the Rainbow Wishing Shell for a way out of this arranged marriage, it was because when Donghae and I were kidnapped by vampires, we found out that we didn’t love each other, and he told me that he was in love with somebody else. That’s the person you need to find!”

Jonghyun didn’t know what to make of this information. Vampires and Rainbow Wishing Shells? Jonghyun was pretty sure neither of these things existed, and he would have suspected Mary Sue of being crazy if he hadn’t been trying to find a way to turn Donghae back into a human. Life was pretty crazy right now.

“Okay,” Jonghyun said into the phone. “Don’t worry Mary Sue, you can count on us. We’ll get Donghae back.” And with that, he hung up.

The others in the room stared up at Jonghyun expectantly, except for Donghae who couldn’t see through the coffee mug he was sitting in.

“True love,” he said.

They continued to stare. “That’s it?” Key asked.

“That’s what Mary Sue said,” Jonghyun answered.

They all considered this for a moment. “Alright,” Amber said. “Suppose we find Donghae’s true love. Then what?”

Jonghyun thought about it for a moment. He didn’t really know the answer to that, but he could venture a guess. “A kiss?” he suggested.

“Suppose we do find his true love, then,” Key said. “How are we going to convince them that this is Donghae? Because, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that shit cray.”

“We can’t think about that yet,” Amber reasoned. “We just have to find his true love, and then we’ll go from there.”

Jonghyun nodded. “So where do we start?” he asked. He couldn’t wait until they found someone to kiss this fish.

 

You sighed as you hung up the phone. “Thanks for helping me save Donghae,” you told Chanyeol. He smiled bashfully, but you meant it. Chanyeol always seemed to be there whenever you needed to be rescued.

His eyes lit up. “Hey,” he ventured, “do you wanna go get some coffee or something?”

“Coffee?” you repeated, a little surprised. Was he asking you out on a date?

“Yeah,” he said, grinning. “I can explain more of this prophecy stuff to you.”

You thought for a moment. You didn’t really have any plans today. Donghae was currently a fish and Himchan hadn’t called you at all, so your schedule was unusually free. “Alright,” you said, nodding. “I could really go for some coffee.”

Chanyeol beamed and it made your heart rate quicken a little.

He took you to a small café around the corner, and from there the two of you strolled through a park and chatted about your destiny.

“Okay, so the prophecy tells about a cataclysmic event that could put an end to humanity and begin an era of darkness,” he said. “It’s a little vague, but our brotherhood has researched and had enough run-ins with the local clan to figure out what this event is. The vampires are plotting to block out the sun with some device so they’re free to roam the surface at all hours to hunt humans, and they’ll use this freedom to build their race and spread vampirism like a plague.”

He sipped his latte and you took the opportunity to interrupt. “What kind of device?”

He shrugged. “That we’re still unsure of. Something ancient and temperamental, something that needs specific conditions to work. Which is why it will only happen on a specific day and they haven’t done it already.”

“So something special is going to happen on that day that hasn’t happened in a long time?”

“Exactly,” he said, then sighed. “Unfortunately, we don’t know much more about it than that. We don’t know what the necessary conditions are, we haven’t yet found out what day they’re planning on carrying out their plan, and we can’t seem to figure out what the machine is they’re trying to use. We have no leads.”

You pouted in thought. “Is that what you were doing when I showed up today?” you asked. “Researching in that big book of yours?”

He chuckled and nodded, his wide smile causing you to grin and look away.

“So where do I come into this whole prophecy thing?” you asked.

“Ah,” he said. “That could go either way.” You gave him a confused look. “See, the prophecy tells about a girl who could either put a stop to the cataclysmic event or be the catalyst for it,” he explained. “Which is why you’re so valuable to both sides.”

You blushed a little at this.

“The vampires want the Chosen One in order to launch their plan and begin their era of darkness,” he continued. “But without knowing how and when they’re planning to use their device, we don’t know how they’re planning to use you.”

You gulped, hoping they wouldn’t get the chance to use you to start a vampire apocalypse.

“It also makes it harder for us to know how you can stop the event, when we don’t even know what it is.” He noticed your uneasiness and said, “Don’t worry, Mary Sue. We’re sworn to protect you until we find out what’s threatening humanity and how we can put a stop to it.”

He smiled, and he seemed so sure of himself that you were put at ease. You smiled back. You stood there for a moment, smiling at each other, before he averted his gaze. Clearing his throat, he continued onward. You followed, a slight pout on your lips.

 

Jonghyun was feeling a little disheartened. The three of them were searching through Donghae’s room, trying to find something—a journal, pictures, love notes, slips of paper with phone numbers written on them—anything that could give them a clue as to who Donghae’s true love was. But they were coming up short. Donghae didn’t keep a journal, there were no notes, and Jonghyun had gone through every single stack of pictures in Donghae’s room. They were all of family vacations and most of them were just pictures of Donghae with Eunhyuk. How were these supposed to help them find his true love?

“What are you doing?” said a voice coming from the doorway.

Jonghyun turned to see Eunhyuk standing there, staring at the three of them rifling suspiciously through Donghae’s things. “Uh…” How was he supposed to explain this?

“Where’s Donghae?” Eunhyuk asked them.

“He’s not here,” Amber said quickly. Everybody else looked at her questioningly. “He left,” she fumbled. “On a trip.”

Jonghyun nodded in agreement.

“He just left?” Eunhyuk asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, his friends from school surprised him,” she said. “Like a bachelor party, sort of. He had to leave early this morning.”

Eunhyuk stared at her with an unreadable expression. “And he didn’t have enough time to tell me himself?”

“Well, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing,” she wavered.

“Amber,” Key said softly. Jonghyun turned his attention to him. Key was looking at Eunhyuk with a strange expression, as if he saw something there that the other two didn’t. “We should tell him the truth.”

“The truth?” Amber repeated.

Of course! Eunhyuk and Donghae were best friends. If anybody could tell them who Donghae’s true love was, Jonghyun thought, Eunhyuk could.

Eunhyuk looked between them questioningly.

“The truth is,” Jonghyun started, picking up the coffee mug. “Donghae is right here.”

Eunhyuk blinked. “A cup of coffee.”

“No,” he responded. He walked up to Eunhyuk and showed him what was inside.

“A clownfish?” He looked from the fish to Jonghyun, to Amber and Key, then back at Jonghyun. “Do you think I’m stupid?!”

“It’s true, Eunhyuk,” Amber said. “I know, it seems crazy, but… it’s the truth.”

He stared at the three of them. “You all seriously believe that Donghae’s a fish,” he said in exasperation. He sighed then, giving in to the situation. “Alright,” he said. “So what do we do about it?”

“We’re trying to find out who Donghae’s true love is,” Jonghyun answered. “Only true love’s kiss can break the spell.”

Eunhyuk let out a huff and folded his arms defiantly. “Then get Mary Sue to come over here and do it,” he said. “They know each other so well now.”

“That’s the thing, see, Mary Sue hasn’t actually been the one dating Donghae,” Amber said uneasily. “Jonghyun has.”

His eyes fell back on Jonghyun. “Then you kiss him,” he stated flatly.

“What? That’s just silly,” Jonghyun laughed uneasily. “Men can’t love each other.”

Eunhyuk’s expression suddenly took on a look of hurt and anger and defiance. He strode right up to Jonghyun and tore the fish from the coffee mug. For a second, Jonghyun’s heart stopped, and he was terrified that Eunhyuk would squish poor defenseless fish-Donghae in a blind rage. But then, he kissed it instead. Right on his fishy mouth.

Suddenly, a blinding rainbow light filled the room, and everybody shielded their eyes until it ceased. When Jonghyun brought his arm away from his eyes, he saw, standing before Eunhyuk in place of the clownfish, Lee Donghae. Dripping wet and stark naked.

Everybody stared at Donghae, except for Donghae, who was looking right at the person who had broken the spell.

“Eunhyuk,” he breathed. He was panting heavily, as if he had been holding his breath for a long time.

Eunhyuk was gazing right back at him. “It really is you,” he said.

Donghae nodded, still naked.

“I thought you’d left, without saying anything, I thought…”

“No,” Donghae cut him off. “I would never.”

The two were lost in their own world, and the other three in the room could only stare at them in bewilderment.

“Listen, Eunhyuk,” Donghae said. “I’ve been through a lot in the past twelve hours. And I don’t know how much of it was real, or if I dreamed it, or if somebody put hallucinogens in the punch last night, but I’ve realized something.” He took ahold of Eunhyuk’s hand. “Look, I don’t know what to believe anymore, because suddenly a lot of things don’t make sense. All I know is, when I thought I was about to die, all I could think of was you.”

A tear gently rolled down Eunhyuk’s cheek. Drops of water rolled down Donghae’s still naked body.

“Eunhyuk,” Donghae continued. “You are the most important person in the world to me. And that’s why…”

Jonghyun was acutely aware of how naked Donghae was. Seriously, was nobody else fazed by this?

“I’m stopping the engagement.”

Wait, what?

“I love you.” Donghae pulled Eunhyuk towards him and kissed him passionately.

Woah. Jonghyun did not see that coming.

In retrospect, though, he probably should have seen that coming. It had been written all in Donghae’s character since he had been introduced. Seriously, it couldn’t have been more obvious.

Jonghyun felt a tug on his sleeve. “We should…” Amber pulled him in the direction of the door. “Go…”

He followed her out, with Key trailing behind, leaving alone the two lovers who didn’t even notice their absence.

 

You pulled up into your driveway, took the keys out of the ignition, and leaned back into your seat, sighing. After you received Jonghyun’s text saying Donghae was no longer a fish, you were extremely relieved, and you decided it was time for you to get home. You thanked Chanyeol when the two of you had returned to the church and left.

Jonghyun was waiting for you when you got home, pacing in your room and clearly not at ease. You cleared your throat to catch his attention, and he looked at you.

“Something wrong?” you asked him. “Donghae didn’t turn into a cup of coffee or something, did he?”

“It was Eunhyuk,” Jonghyun said simply, his expression clearly disturbed.

“What?”

“His true love! It was Eunhyuk!” Jonghyun’s eyes were wide and he looked like a crazy person.

“Are you sure?” He nodded vigorously. “But that’s crazy,” you said. “Men can’t love each other.”

“That’s what I thought, Mary Sue, but I saw it with my own eyes!” He was shaking your shoulders frantically. You didn’t know what to think! Clearly Jonghyun was losing it. But could you blame him? You both had been under a lot of stress for the past couple days.

“Well,” you began slowly, “is the engagement off then?”

He seemed to calm down a bit and let go of your shoulders. Then he sighed and went to slump down onto your bed. “Yeah,” he said sadly. “It’s over.”

You felt a weight lifted off your shoulders. “That’s great!” you exclaimed. Jonghyun looked at you forlornly. He seemed to disagree. “I mean, at least you won’t have to cross dress anymore, right? I can deal with Himchan on my own.”

“About that,” he interrupted. You gave him a confused look. “Himchan won’t be bothering you anymore.”

“Why?” What did Jonghyun do at Homecoming? Did everyone find out he was you?

He grinned at you. “I told him to step off. He wanted to date for real, and I told him that wasn’t the deal.” He stared into space, reliving the memory with a wistful smile. “Then I left him standing there in front of the whole school.” His gaze fixed on you again. “You don’t have to keep up the charade anymore.”

Did Jonghyun really do that for you? You felt another huge weight lifted off your shoulders.

Jonghyun sighed. “We’re gonna have a lot more free time now, aren’t we?”

“Not necessarily,” you answered. He looked at you questioningly. Should you tell him? He was your twin brother, after all, and you knew you could trust him with anything. You grinned. “Did I ever tell you that I’m the Chosen One?”

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about, Mary Sue?”

You squared your shoulders proudly. “I’m going to save the world from a vampire apocalypse!”

He sat up.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mary Sue and Jonghyun aren't homophobic, just oblivious. They get character development though, in their own ways.


	16. Chapter 16

The next day at school felt oddly surreal to you. Rather than the hateful glares you were expecting from people because of how you apparently humiliated Himchan at the dance, you were receiving lots of smiles and waves from random people, and even a few greetings and “How are you”s. The majority of the student body was still whispering whenever you walked by, but it didn’t seem malicious at all.

Krystal cleared up the matter for you in third period.

“I can’t believe how awesome you are,” she said with total admiration. “You manage to land a guy like Donghae for Homecoming, you totally diss Himchan in front of the entire school—you knocked him down just like you did CL!”

Once again, you felt strange at everyone’s insistence that you knocked a popular student down a few pegs, but it must’ve been true if they all said so.

“By the way,” Krystal interrupted your thoughts. “Is it true that your dating Himchan was all just a way to pay him back for ruining his jacket?”

You blinked at her. “Yeah,” you admitted. “He said the only way to pay him back would be to pretend to be his girlfriend to get CL off his back.” You put your face in your hands and sighed. “I guess it just got really out of hand,” you said. “I felt like I was living a double life. I was practically two people.”

Krystal rubbed your shoulders comfortingly. “You’re one of the strongest people I know, Mary Sue.”

You smiled.

Krystal sat with you at lunch, even though you had relocated to your original table with Key, Amber and Jonghyun. It was a little inconvenient for you, since you had planned to tell Key and Amber about the whole Chosen One, prophecy of destiny, vampire apocalypse thing, and you didn’t know how well you could trust Krystal with that sort of information. Key and Amber had been with you and Jonghyun through a lot of difficult situations, and they had proven you could trust them with anything. But with Krystal around, you couldn’t open your mouth for anything other than stuffing the banana from your lunch tray inside it.

“Ahem.” You heard the timid noise behind you and you glanced over your shoulder to see Sunny and Sungmin holding their lunch trays. “Mary Sue,” Sunny began, sharing a quick look with her boyfriend. “Can we sit with you?”

Your mouth fell open, revealing the banana inside. Then you regained your composure enough to finish eating the mouthful. “But, why would you want to?” you asked, dumbfounded. “This isn’t the popular table.”

Sunny smiled, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Are you kidding?” she retorted. “You’re the most popular girl in school now after the way you stood up to Himchan. You’re at the same level as Donghae now!”

You were astounded by this. Glancing over to Himchan’s table, you noticed there were decidedly less people sitting there with him than before. You also noticed CL a couple tables away with her posse 2NE1. She was looking generally peeved and kept sending glaring looks your way. Then you realized that Sunny and Sungmin were still standing there, looking increasingly more nervous. “Of course you can sit with us,” you said happily, and they both relaxed, ecstatic, and sat down.

“You really have changed the status quo, new girl,” Sungmin said, winking.

“Is she really at Donghae level now?” Jonghyun cut in, his eyes wide and staring straight at Sunny. Sunny faltered a bit beneath his gaze and simply nodded.

“Speaking of Donghae,” Krystal added, “why isn’t he sitting here? Aren’t he and Mary Sue together?”

You stopped yourself from taking another bite of banana to gape like a fish as you thought of a good way to answer.

“They’re not actually together,” Amber explained for you. “They both realized they don’t love each other and so they broke it off,” she said simply.

“That’s too bad,” Krystal mused.

“Not really. Jonghyun took it harder than either of us did,” you remarked, grinning.

He looked back at you, his eyes still wide and expression still unchanged from awestruck. “Does it matter anymore?” he exclaimed. “You’re at Donghae level! I can achieve high school status just by being your twin!”

The rest of the table laughed, in a cheesy moment that caught the rest of the cafeteria’s attention and elevated your table’s status to exclusive popularity that everyone wished they could be a part of.

 

That day after school, you finally had the opportunity to talk about the whole vampire prophecy Chosen One thing. You had invited Key and Amber over to your house under the pretense of having something very important to tell them. But now, gathered in your room with their attention on you, you didn’t know where to begin.

You ended up just saying it all at once. “I’m the Chosen One in a prophecy to help the twelve Hunters against a clan of vampires who are trying to invoke a vampire apocalypse by somehow using me to stop the sun.”

Well, that could have been put more delicately. Key and Amber just blinked at you for a few seconds, and you suddenly regretted not easing them into it. Maybe you could have started with, “Vampires are real.” You mentally face-palmed for not thinking of that first.

Key broke the tension with a monosyllabic laugh. “I’m sorry, what?” he asked.

“It’s true,” Jonghyun said before you could explain further. “That’s why she never came back to Homecoming,” he elaborated, as if that explained everything.

Key gave another tense laugh. Amber, on the other hand, who seemed to come to terms with the information rather quickly, just nodded. “Alright,” she said.

Key stared at the other three bewildered. “You can’t be serious,” he said. “Vampires.”

You all stared earnestly back at him.

“Vampires?!” he yelled. “Seriously?!”

“I don’t know, Key,” Amber reasoned. “A lot of strange things have been happening. I mean, just yesterday, Donghae was a fish. I don’t know if we can just dismiss this as nothing.”

“Look,” Key argued. “I was really hung over yesterday. I can’t trust that it wasn’t just the vodka talking.”

“Well, Jonghyun and I were completely sober,” she countered.

“Well, maybe somebody put hallucinogens in the punch,” he rebutted. “We all drank that shit. Tell me that doesn’t explain Mary Sue’s Homecoming night adventure as well.”

“Um,” you muttered, suddenly gaining everybody’s attention again. “I can prove it to you.”

You found them all staring at you again, Amber interestedly, Key bewilderedly, and Jonghyun excitedly.

“If you’re interested, that is.”

 

“Mary Sue!” Chanyeol exclaimed. “Just can’t stay away, can…you…?”

You turned around to face him coming out of the hidden door in the chapel. His face fell from his characteristic wide-eyed smile and shifted between you and the other three people standing there.

“Chanyeol, I want you to meet my friends, Key and Amber, and my twin brother, Jonghyun.” You gestured to each of them, beaming.

The tall Hunter smiled uneasily at each of them before turning back to you.

“W-what are they doing here?” he stammered through nearly gritted teeth and a half-assed fake smile.

You shrugged. “I thought they might be able to help.”

“Help?” He cocked his head to punctuate the one-word question.

You just smiled at him. “I told them everything!” you explained.

His smile faltered, leaving his expression similar to that of a deer in headlights.

“What?!”


	17. Chapter 17

“Hey guys, what’s up?” you heard a voice ask from behind you.

Everybody turned to see two Hunters whom you recognized to be Kai and Lay entering through the huge cathedral doors carrying grocery bags.

“Oh,” Chanyeol sighed, still sounding very distressed. “You know, just…” He ran a hand through his hair.

“Who are all these people?” asked Lay.

“They’re Mary Sue’s friends,” Chanyeol answered for you, giving Lay a look.

“Dude,” Kai laughed, walking up to him and clapping a hand on his shoulder. “What’s got you all stressed?”

Chanyeol heaved a sigh and turned Kai away from the rest of you to talk quietly with him, but you could still hear.

“She told all her friends,” Chanyeol muttered.

Kai glanced over his shoulder at all of you. “Told them what?” he asked.

“Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yes.”

Kai considered this for a moment. “When you say everything…”

“Kai, I mean everything!” Chanyeol burst out, not bothering to hush himself anymore.

Kai turned back to the rest of you. “Well, shit.” Then he raised his eyebrows in a noncommittal way. “Welp.” With that, he took a step toward the door behind the podium, only to disappear in a flash of smoke a second later.

Your friends erupted in a chorus of “Woah!” “Did he just…?” and “What the fuck just happened?!”

Lay started chuckling beside you, still holding his grocery bags.

“I don’t see what’s so funny about this,” Chanyeol snapped at him.

“Relax,” Lay said. “If Mary Sue trusts them enough to tell them about us, then I think we can trust them too.” He sent a friendly wink your way.

Chanyeol exhaled out his nose, trying to calm himself. “Fine. But they are not joining us.”

“Oh, come on.” Lay stood next to Chanyeol and scrutinized the rest of you. “We could at least see what they’ve got,” he said.

You grinned, grateful to Lay for helping you out. Lay left Chanyeol standing there, looking flustered, and strode leisurely to the door. “We bought peanut butter,” he threw over his shoulder as an afterthought.

The four of you looked to Chanyeol with varying degrees of persuading looks. All he could do was sigh and beckon you inside as he turned and walked to the door Lay just disappeared through.

Suho was in the kitchen, putting away the groceries Kai and Lay just brought in, when Chanyeol strolled in with you and the other three in tow.

“So you all want to join us?” he asked the newcomers when he was caught up on the situation.

Jonghyun nodded eagerly. “We’d like to help somehow,” Amber said, while at the same time Key admitted, “Honestly, I’m just waiting for the hallucinations to stop.”

“Well,” Suho started, eyeing the four of you. “Do any of you have any combat experience?”

You all looked around sheepishly and shook your heads.

Suho raised his eyebrows, looking just slightly worried. “Any martial arts training?”

You shook your heads again. You started to feel a little embarrassed for bringing your friends. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.

“Anything at all?” Suho asked.

Amber finally spoke up. “I know archery,” she said meekly.

Suho’s eyes lit up at this. “Really?” He scrutinized her for a moment. “You any good?”

She smirked. “I’ve been doing it since I was eight,” she said.

“Alright,” Suho said. “We can work with that.” He looked at Key and Jonghyun. “Anybody else?”

Jonghyun shook his head while Key just shrugged.

“That’s alright,” Suho said. “Let’s just see how you fare against my guys for now.”

A mischievous glint appeared in his eye. You wondered what he meant by that.

 

Jonghyun found himself standing in the middle of the Hunters’ training room with the eyes of about a dozen people he hadn’t met before today on him.

“We’re just going to do some really basic sparring, to test your reflexes and natural ability,” Suho explained. “We want to see what kind of potential you and your friend have, before we decide to train you.”

Jonghyun nodded. “So I’m taking on all of you?” he asked, picturing trials of epic martial arts as he fought his way through twelve advanced masters.

Suho smiled widely. A few of the other Hunters snickered.

“That won’t be necessary,” Suho replied. “You’ll be going against one of our younger members.”

The guy Jonghyun saw in the chapel earlier who disappeared into thin air stepped forward and grinned cheekily. “Kai,” he introduced himself, offering his hand, which Jonghyun shook.

“What about all of you?” Jonghyun asked, wondering why they were all even here if they weren’t going to take part.

A tall Hunter with blond hair and killer eyebrows sighed and said, “We’re just here for the show.” He grinned deviously. “It’s not every day a crop of fresh meat just shows up here asking to be trained.”

Jonghyun gulped, feeling slightly under pressure now. He hoped he wouldn’t embarrass himself. It wasn’t just the Hunters that were watching him. Mary Sue and Amber were watching too. And Key.

Kai smirked at Jonghyun when they were the only two in the sparring area. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Jonghyun breathed.

Without any further warning, Kai came at Jonghyun. His strike landed across his face, and Jonghyun fell to the floor, a bit stunned.

“Kai!” cried one of the Hunters from the sidelines. Jonghyun couldn’t tell who, his ears were kind of ringing and he was too busy staring at the floor to look up and see who it was.

“A face shot right away? Really?” someone else scolded.

“Go easier on him, Kai!” That one was Suho, Jonghyun was almost sure.

There was a hand in his face. He looked up to see Kai, eyebrows raised in amusement and smiling at him. “Sorry,” Kai said. Despite his amusement, he seemed nice enough to mean it. Jonghyun allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

“Try to defend yourself this time,” Kai said as they began again.

Jonghyun thought that was probably good advice.

“I’m coming,” Kai warned, and he came at Jonghyun a second time.

This time, Jonghyun was able to somewhat predict Kai’s movements. He managed to block the first attack and push away the second and clumsily dodge the third. When Kai swung an arm at him, Jonghyun ducked beneath it, stumbling through and shoving Kai from behind.

“Not bad,” Kai commended as he quickly recovered, and he continued to attack.

Jonghyun was able to predict his movements quicker now and had even started attacking. It was clumsy, but he was holding his own.

It ended when the two of them were pressed together, hanging onto each other’s arms after having each blocked a blow, and Kai had wrapped a foot around Jonghyun’s ankles as he was shuffling backward, causing him to land on his back at the other boy’s feet.

Kai smiled and offered Jonghyun a hand, helping him up. “You have pretty good natural instincts,” he commended, which made Jonghyun feel like this whole venture might not have been wasted on him. He smiled, proud.

When Jonghyun had sat down beside Mary Sue, Kai pointed straight at Key, like a champion fighter singling out a challenger from the crowd. “You next,” he said simply.

Key immediately raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“Come on, Key,” Suho said. “We want to see your fighting skills too.”

Key just laughed in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?” He looked around. No one seemed to be kidding. “This is the most absurd—“

“Key!” Mary Sue interrupted his grumbling. “Do you want to help me stop a vampire apocalypse or do you need to wait around for a vampire to actually kidnap and bite you and your nonbelieving diva blood for you to believe me?”

Key gaped at her.

“What?!”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mentions of off-screen character death (it's basically the batman backstory).

Jonghyun watched as Key stood up and was pulled reluctantly to the center of the sparring area. He kept grumbling about how he didn’t want to have any part of this, and other stuff about hallucinations that nobody paid any attention to.

When Kai was situated opposite Key, Suho called out, “Ready?”

Key huffed and dropped his arms heavily to his sides. “Come on, do you seriously expect me to—“

Kai suddenly threw his fist full force at Key, cutting him off. But Key quickly dodged left.

Kai stood there for a second, stunned like everybody else in the room that he hadn’t landed that punch. Key was no longer complaining. Instead, he became incredibly focused, his eyes never leaving his opponent.

Kai smirked and went for Key again. Key spun out of the way. Kai threw more at Key, and Key blocked and dodged everything. Kai couldn’t land anything on him. He increased the speed of his attacks, and Key continued to swerve around them.

The entire room was mesmerized by the spectacle. Jonghyun thought they didn’t even look like they were fighting anymore. It was like Kai was leading Key in a complicated dance, and Key was picking up the steps as he went along.

Suddenly, Kai swung his leg at Key’s head. Jonghyun thought for a moment that he would knock Key down for sure. But then, Key ducked underneath it, then swung his own leg at Kai’s remaining leg he was standing on, sending it out from beneath him. The sparring match ended with Kai on his back and staring up at Key who was standing over him.

The entire room was stunned into silence. Finally, Suho started clapping. “Alright!” he cheered. “We can definitely work with this.”

Kai sat up, smirking up at Key. “If you don’t mind, Suho,” he said to his leader. “I’d like to train him myself.”

“Woah,” Mary Sue exclaimed as she, Amber, and Jonghyun walked up to their friend. “How did you get so good, Key?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” Key scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. “I’m obviously dreaming right now.”

 

Suho and the Hunters agreed to train each of you starting the next day after school. In return, you would also help them with research and, if you ever became good enough in combat, some easy missions. In a sense, you, Jonghyun, Key and Amber were like vampire hunting interns.

Each of you would be trained by one of the Hunters. Lay would train Jonghyun and Amber would learn from Kris. Kai had immediately resolved to be the one to train Key personally. You could tell he was very impressed with Key’s natural fighting abilities, but you wondered if he didn’t have some ulterior motive for it. Kai seemed like he wasn’t often outdone in things he was good at, and you could sense a competitive spirit in him. Would he want to train Key so he could have a chance at a rematch? You supposed that wasn’t really your concern though. You had your own training to worry about.

You were to be trained by the mysterious, dark-eyed Hunter, Tao. Since you were the Chosen One, you had to know how to protect yourself and fight off vampires. Tao had been trained in various martial arts from childhood, and was extremely skilled and precise. He was their best fighter, and it only made sense for you to learn from the best if you were going to seriously defend yourself.

Unfortunately, you weren’t doing a very good job of defending yourself at the moment. But it was your first day training. You were the Chosen One, weren’t you supposed to just be naturally good at this stuff? You would pick it up within a couple of days.

But it was becoming increasingly difficult just to keep up with Tao, let alone defend yourself from him.

“Let’s try it again,” you panted for the eighth time maybe that day. He still stood before you, stoic and straight-backed and breathing normally as if this wasn’t physically taxing on him at all.

He maneuvered through the steps again, reminding you where to step, how to block, how you should predict and react to his movements. He was graceful as a panther, and you felt as clumsy and vulnerable as a baby deer.

You fumbled your way through the walkthrough again. You didn’t really have a problem when Tao was going slow like this. It was after the practice round, after he had meticulously taken you through all the possible steps he could take and how you should defend yourself against them, and once he started attacking seriously that you just couldn’t keep up with him. Suddenly, he was moving like lightning, and you could barely register his movements enough to predict them, much less react. You didn’t know how someone could move that fast!

But you chalked your struggling up to slow reflexes and kept going, despite the increasing number of small cuts and bruises you were sustaining. If your training was this difficult, you couldn’t imagine what your non-Chosen friends were going through right now.

 

You asked them about it at lunch one day, when just the four of you were at the table still, and Sunny, Sungmin, and Krystal hadn’t arrived yet.

“Lay said I’m learning pretty quickly,” Jonghyun said happily. “I mean, it’s just basic combat, you know? Also he started teaching me first aid. Did you know he’s a healer?” he added, grinning excitedly. “It’s his cool talisman power thing.”

You nodded, smiling. You knew Lay was a healer. He was the one who healed Donghae.

“I can’t exactly learn any magical healing powers, but he’s going to teach me some really cool herbal medicines and techniques later.” Jonghyun sat back, pleased with his experiences with his new mentor so far.

So Jonghyun didn’t seem to be having a hard time. But, like he said, he was only learning basic combat, and you were being trained by the most advanced fighter in the Hunters’ brotherhood.

“Kris started showing me all the different weapons you can use against vampires,” Amber said, picking up the conversation. “Like different blades and projectile weapons and stuff.” She grinned. “I started practicing with the crossbow. It’s an awesome weapon,” she added.

“Have you used a crossbow before?” you asked her, wondering how she fared on her first day of training. She shook her head. “Must’ve been difficult then,” you said.

“No,” she answered, “not really. I got the hang of it pretty quickly.”

You shrugged noncommittally. “Well, you’ve been in archery for years,” you said. She nodded.

Wasn’t anyone else having as difficult a time as you were with your training? You looked at Key. His arms were crossed and he was staring at the table, pouting.

“What about you, Key?” you asked him. “How was training with Kai?”

Without looking up from the table, he heaved a deep, irritated sigh. You sat back, a little relieved. As you took a bite of your churro, you contemplated how Key must have been really struggling with his training for him to not want to talk about it with you.

 

Jonghyun watched as Key trained after school that day. He was a bit mesmerized by his movements. Key was a natural. It was obvious watching him that Key was the most talented of the four of them, having no trouble at all with his training. Kai was still having a hard time landing anything on him whenever they sparred. Now though, Kai was just showing Key different moves, and Key mimicked them as he saw them. Jonghyun felt like he was witnessing a dance.

He watched as Key ducked and swerved around invisible opponents, saw his careful footwork as he stepped gracefully about the room, noticed each deliberate gesture, all the intricacies of every movement—

“Jonghyun.” Lay’s voice snapped him out of his trance, and he shifted his focus to his trainer just in time to see the other deliberately knock his legs out from beneath him. Jonghyun landed on the mat with a thud. “Pay attention,” Lay ordered, smirking.

“Sorry,” Jonghyun muttered, taking Lay’s offered hand and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

Lay glanced at the other two who were training in the room. “Captivating to watch, isn’t it?”

Jonghyun blinked off his sudden embarrassment. “Uh… yeah, I guess,” he mumbled.

Why did Jonghyun feel like he was trying to hide something? And why was Lay looking at him like he knew what it was? It was a little disconcerting. Jonghyun tried to shake it off.

“Maybe we should switch our focus to healing remedies for now?” Lay offered. “It might be less distracting somewhere else.”

Jonghyun nodded, thinking that was probably best, but still feeling slightly disappointed for some reason, and followed Lay out of the training room, leaving Key and Kai alone together.

Why did Jonghyun feel bothered by that?

He tried to shake the feeling off again.

 

You sighed as you stared up at your ceiling, contemplating this whole crazy plotline you seemed to find yourself in. You still hadn’t gotten very far with your training, like you had hoped. But your friends seemed to be having no problem with it at all. You thought, and even selfishly hoped, that Key was also having trouble keeping up, but according to Jonghyun, he was basically a genius when it came to movement. So you were alone in your suffering.

Why couldn’t you just be better at this whole fighting thing? You were supposed to be the Chosen One, you were supposed to be able to stop the world from plunging into darkness and suffering from a vampire apocalypse. How could you do that when you couldn’t even defend yourself properly?

Not only were you frustrated yourself, but Tao was increasingly frustrated with you as well, which only made you more frustrated with your inabilities. Tao was already an ace fighter, and you seemed to be taking forever just grasping the concept of reflexes. He still moved too fast for you to see, and he started lashing out at you for being so slow to react. You still couldn’t fathom how someone was so quick. It was bothering you to no end.

Still, you wouldn’t give up, you thought as you held Chanyeol’s Phoenix Talisman between your fingers, feeling the grooves of the phoenix design. There was no way you could just quit after a few training sessions. The Hunters were counting on you for your help, and you would help by learning to protect yourself. Then Chanyeol wouldn’t have to take on the burden for you.

You smiled at the thought and turned over to get some rest. You still had school the next day.

 

At lunch, Amber reminded you just how urgent your training really was.

“What is this specific event that the vampires are waiting for?” she asked you.

“I don’t know,” you answered. “The Hunters don’t know yet either. That’s what they’re trying to figure out.”

Her facial expression became very concerned and anxious.

“Why?” you asked.

She sighed through her nose. “It’s just,” she began, concern still in her eyes. “It’s only getting closer,” she said. “What if that day comes, and we’re not ready for it?”

You felt a pang of anxiety from her question.

“I just wish I knew how much time we had,” she lamented.

“We’ll find out,” you said, trying to reassure everybody. “Chanyeol’s been doing a lot of reading, and—“

“What are you talking about?” Krystal asked interested, sitting down with her lunch tray, along with Sunny and Sungmin.

“Nothing.”

“A book,” Amber covered quickly.

“Oh really?” Krystal responded. “What’s it about?”

“Vampires.”

Amber shot an incredulous glare at Key, who returned it with an amused smirk.

“Oh, that sounds interesting,” Sunny joined in. “What happens in it?”

“Uh, well,” Amber stuttered. “The female protagonist is pursued by a vampire… uh, and…”

“And there’s another guy who protects her from the vampire,” you continued. “And… um…” You looked at Jonghyun as a cue for him to pick up the volley.

“Uh…” he trailed. “And they both want her for themselves…? B-because they’re… sworn enemies?”

Sunny and Krystal looked enthralled. “Wow,” Sunny said.

“Sounds familiar,” Krystal remarked.

You giggled nervously. “A-anyway,” you stammered, turning back to Amber. “The characters in that book,” you began, trying to find a way to convey to her without raising suspicion what you were trying to say. “I think they’ll find a way to stop that prophecy pretty soon. After so much reading, it has to happen soon.”

Amber nodded, still thinly concealing an expression of concern. You hoped you were right.

 

Despite the urgency, your body wouldn’t listen to your hopes. You still couldn’t keep up with Tao during training, and both of you were just getting more frustrated with each other.

“Block, Mary Sue!” he cried at you as you fell over from a blow to your left side.

“I’m trying,” you insisted, exasperated and exhausted. “Can’t you slow down just a little bit?”

“Did you know vampires can move in super speed?” he countered sternly.

You glared at him, remembering your encounters with TOP when he had moved without you even seeing how he did it.

“A vampire isn’t going to slow down so you can have a fighting chance,” he said. “Stand up.”

You stood up, still panting and arguing. “But I’m not improving at all just from taking all these hits from you! It’s not helping my reflexes or my fighting skills or _anything_!”

“The more fighting experience you’ll have, the better you’ll be,” he answered.

“This isn’t experience!” you cried. “I’m not at the same level as you, and you can’t teach me as if I am, because I’m never going to catch up. Just because _you’re_ some child prodigy in martial arts doesn’t mean anyone else learns at the same speed.”

His jaw stiffened. “Are you saying you don’t want to be trained?” he asked.

“I’m saying you can’t train me,” you snapped. You knew you shouldn’t have said that, since it would only cause problems for everyone if you just refused to train or demanded a different trainer. The rest of the Hunters had their own responsibilities. They couldn’t all be worrying about how you were supposed to train when you couldn’t even learn from your trainer. But you were at the edge of your patience, so the words just spilled out before you could stop them or even have time to regret saying them.

“Fine,” Tao said. “There’s the door.” He pointed, and you immediately stormed off in that direction, leaving him alone in the training room. You didn’t know where you were going, but you wandered angrily through the halls anyway. Your dignity wouldn’t permit you turning back now.

“Hey, Mary Sue!” said a cheerful voice when you blindly turned a corner, and you saw Xiu Min walking in your direction. “Where are you headed? I don’t see you around this wing of the building very often.”

You could only huff in response. His eyebrows furrowed and his smile fell.

“How is training going?” he asked tentatively.

You bit back a string of curses and tried to come up with a more well thought out response. “I can’t learn from someone who doesn’t teach at my speed,” you said.

“Wow, you must be really amazing if even Tao can’t keep up with you,” Xiu Min commended. “No wonder you’re the Chosen One.” He smiled in awe.

You sighed. “Actually, I can’t even tell when he’s about to attack,” you explained. “He can’t slow down for me. I don’t even think he realizes how fast he moves. He’s just been getting frustrated with me, and I’m really frustrated because he doesn’t understand that I can’t keep up. Whoever thought the best fighter would be the best teacher couldn’t have been more off the mark.” You finished your quickly paced rant, panting slightly, and Xiu Min’s eyebrows had migrated high up on his forehead.

“Well I’m sure you’ll pick it up soon enough,” he consoled.

“No, I won’t!” you retorted. “He just doesn’t understand the whole teaching thing. He’s short with me, and he attacks me without warning, and he’s just angry all the time! It’s so hard just to tolerate him when he never smiles even once. Can’t he try more positive reinforcement instead of taking out all his angst on me? I don’t know what his problem is, but can’t he just get over it long enough to teach me how to block?” You sighed in exasperation and frustration and anxiety and everything else you were feeling at the moment.

Xiu Min sighed too, but it sounded more resigned. “The thing with Tao…” he began. Then he seemed to remember that the two of you were just standing in the middle of a hallway, so he beckoned you into a room close by. You sat down in a couple of chairs and he leveled with you.

“Tao’s been through a lot in his life,” Xiu Min said. “You couldn’t even imagine.” He looked down as he tried to remember. “He came to us at a young age. He was barely thirteen, and he was already an excellent fighter.”

You knew he was a child prodigy, you thought with a hint of bitterness.

“It’s true he had had formal training as a kid, but… the reason he was so good was that he’d already had so much experience fighting. Everyone. Especially vampires.”

You were taken aback at this. “He was already fighting vampires as a kid? Before he even joined the Hunters?”

Xiu Min nodded and you looked down solemnly.

“Why though?” you asked. Why would he be subject to that so early? What would make someone hunt vampires for almost his entire life?

“He has a grudge against them,” Xiu Min explained. “He’s killed a lot of vampires. He has an intense bloodlust for it… but he still hasn’t killed the one he’s been after. And he won’t be satisfied until he does.”

“Why does he have a grudge against one specific vampire?” you asked.

Xiu Min’s eyes were full of worry and sympathy. “It’s the one who killed his parents,” he said reverently. “He’s been hunting this vampire since he was a kid.”

Your eyes widened, and your concerned and frightened exclamation came out in barely a whisper.

“What?!”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The timeline of this chapter kind of overlaps with the ones before and after it. Mild violence mixed with innuendos happens.

The bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period, and Amber gathered her things and headed toward the door with Krystal.

“Hey, I was wondering, maybe if you’re not busy,” Krystal ventured. “If you might like to hang out after school?”

Amber smiled, but immediately replaced it with an expression of disappointment. “I can’t,” she sighed. “I have something else I have to do.”

“Oh,” Krystal responded, trying to sound casual, but Amber could hear the disappointment in her voice. “What do you have to do?” she asked.

_Train with long-range weapons in preparation for a vampire apocalypse that could happen at any time._

“Babysitting,” she answered.

“Okay,” Krystal sighed. “Maybe some other time then.”

“Yeah,” Amber nodded. “Some other time.” She watched as Krystal hurried off to her next class.

She hated lying to people she cared about. Trouble was, she had been doing it a lot lately. She had lied to Eunhyuk about Donghae, she lied to Donghae about Jonghyun. She had been doing a lot of lying lately. It was only worse now because she was lying to everybody constantly now, always having to cover her tracks about where she was going every single day.

Worse was, she really did want to spend some time with Krystal, take at least one day off from training just to hang out. But she knew she couldn’t. They didn’t know when the vampires would make their move, and she had to be prepared for it. She couldn’t be caught off guard.

 

“You seem a little distracted,” Kris said after her arrow missed the entire target completely.

Amber blew her bangs out of her face in annoyance. “I’m fine,” she answered.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course,” she said shortly.

He seemed to consider her for a moment, doubt written in his eyes. “You can tell me if something’s bothering you.”

“It’s nothing,” she urged. “Let’s just continue with this. I’m alright.”

Kris sighed patiently. “You know,” he began. “I would be much more comfortable knowing that there was something else bothering you, rather than believing that you missed that shot just now simply because you suddenly just suck at it.”

She sighed and resignedly put down her bow. “I’m just … tired,” she said. “Finals are coming up. I’ve been studying a lot lately.” She glanced at his expression, still one of concern. “That’s all,” she waived his worry.

He considered her explanation before suggesting, “Maybe we should cut it short today then. You can get some rest.”

She hesitated before agreeing. As she made her way home, she wondered why she couldn’t seem find it in herself to simply answer honestly.

 

“Hey, do you guys want to do something together today?” Krystal asked at lunch.

Amber felt her heart sink slightly at the question.

“That sounds like fun,” Sunny chimed. “I’m in.”

Krystal looked to the rest of the table.

“We can’t tonight,” Amber answered, hating herself for having to say it. She watched Krystal’s expression become sullen.

“Why not?” Sunny asked disappointedly.

“We have a…” Mary Sue began to explain, before realizing that she hadn’t actually thought of an answer before opening her mouth.

“Book club,” Key filled in for her.

Krystal looked to Amber for affirmation. She nodded and tried to swallow the guilt she felt when she looked at Krystal’s dejected expression.

 

Amber trudged through a park, tainting the fresh sheet of the first snowfall with her footsteps.

“Why are we training out here?” she breathed, her breath condensing before her face.

Kris chuckled in response. “I thought a change of scenery would be nice,” he said. “Maybe you’ll be able to concentrate better out here than in that stuffy old church.”

Amber hissed in amusement. “So what, are you having me shoot at trees or something?” she asked.

“I thought we could try moving targets today,” he answered.

“What moving targets?” she asked looking around her. “You’re not going to make me shoot birds, are you?”

A splash of freezing cold suddenly struck the side of her head, and she whipped around to see Kris laughing mischievously. Disgruntled, she eyed him with the sternest expression she could muster and scooped up some of her own snow and threw it back at him. Only after she was satisfied with the way it disintegrated upon impact with his face did she allow herself to break into laughter.

“So, snowballs then,” she gathered.

Kris nodded. “Yup.”

“Resourceful,” she commented.

“A Hunter needs to be resourceful,” he shrugged.

When Kris threw the snowballs, Amber liked to think they were actual vampires she was hitting when her arrows exploded them into dust. It made her feel like she was preparing herself for something important, that this whole thing wasn’t futile. That maybe there was a reason why she had to lie to the people she loved.

 

Krystal sunk down by a tree and knelt in the snow, holding her face in her hands, trying to quell her sobs. She shouldn’t have come here. She shouldn’t have followed Amber. She should have just stayed quiet and unassuming, and just believed everything that Amber told her. Then maybe she wouldn’t have seen her with some guy in the park when she said she was spending time with her grandmother. Maybe she could still delude herself into believing that not everything she had ever said to her was a lie. And maybe she wouldn’t be sitting here in the cold snow balling her eyes out for god knows how long. She didn’t even know how long she’s been here, but the sun had already made its way past the horizon in wintry haste.

“You shouldn’t cry.”

Krystal was startled by the sudden voice and looked up to see a man with a friendly demeanor. She hadn’t even heard him coming. She stood up slowly, sniffling and hastily wiping away her tears.

“What ails you?” asked the stranger.

Krystal stared at him, a bit taken aback by his question.

“Broken heart?” he asked.

Her face contorted, and she nodded and looked away, feeling a fresh wave of tears coming.

“What is your name?”

She looked back up at him. He was suddenly closer to her, but she hadn’t even seen or heard him move. “Krystal,” she answered shakily. She wasn’t sure if the shaking was entirely from her crying, or if part of it was the anxiety she felt in her gut when she looked at this guy. “What’s yours?” she asked him.

He smiled warmly at her, but she only felt cold. “I’m called Se7en,” he answered her. He stepped closer to her, more noticeably this time. “There is only one cure for a broken heart,” he cooed. He lifted her chin. “Do you know what it is?”

Krystal shook her head in response, hoping the gesture would also release her from his oddly paralyzing touch. It didn’t.

He smiled again, only this time he showed her his teeth. Krystal’s heart stopped when she saw the points of two fangs glinting just behind his lips. “You have to give your heart to somebody else.” Krystal didn’t see his lips move, but she knew he had said it.

“What do we have here?” Krystal was relieved to hear somebody else’s voice. Se7en smirked and calmly stepped back from her a few steps, and her heart sunk a little when she saw just whose voice it was, and who was with him.

 

Amber stared at the two people in front of her, trying to look as brave as Kris was right now. Her stomach was flopping around uncontrollably though, because there was a vampire right in front of her, and this was the first time she had actually seen one in person, and suddenly this whole thing became very real.

And then she realized who the girl was. And things became even realer.

“Krystal?” she gasped, causing Kris to glance at her in surprise.

“You know her?” he asked under his breath.

“Yes,” she breathed.

Kris took a step toward the vampire.

“Stay where you are, Hunter,” he snapped.

Kris abruptly complied. “Picking on helpless girls, Se7en?” he chided.

The vampire smirked. “Merely offering comfort to a heartbroken damsel,” he answered.

Amber felt a pang of guilt from his words.

Kris let out a _tch!_ “Somehow, I don’t think she finds your presence very comforting,” he mocked. “Why don’t you let her go, hm?”

Se7en let out a chuckle that sounded more like a growl. “What have you to offer me in return?” he asked skeptically.

Kris spread his arms out in a gesture that suggested he was offering himself up to the vampire.

Se7en laughed again. “We both know I can’t drink your blood, Hunter,” he retorted. “Not while you’re wearing that trinket of yours.”

“Then maybe I can offer you a thrilling experience,” Kris offered.

“Somehow I think I would enjoy this flower’s warm nectar more than grappling with you in the snow,” the vampire countered.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Kris replied. “I’m a hell of a ride.”

The vampire didn’t offer a retort. He narrowed his eyes at Kris, glaring at him, and then his lips turned up in a smile that seemed to be challenging the other. Amber didn’t know what thoughts lay behind that expression, but she found it absolutely terrifying.

In a flash, Se7en was on Krystal, and the next second, Kris had him pinned against a tree.

“Take her and go!” he yelled over his shoulder at Amber.

Amber could only blink for a second, trying to register what just happened. She finally gathered herself enough to take Krystal by the hand and begin leading her away. “Will you be okay?” she asked Kris.

Kris was struggling slightly to keep Se7en from escaping his hold on him and going after the two girls. “Don’t worry,” he answered. “I always have protection.”

The moonlight glinted off of his silver cuff with the strange cutout design on it.

Amber quickly led Krystal away from the park and toward the church, where she knew they would be safe. When they finally got inside and Amber closed the huge wooden doors behind them, Amber let out a shaky sigh of relief. Krystal sat down in one of the pews and stared straight ahead of her. Amber noticed her hands were shaking. She sat down next to her and took hold of one of her hands. They were freezing against her warm ones.

“That man,” Krystal whispered. “H-he was a…” She shook her head, like she couldn’t find a way to believe what she knew now to be true. What Amber had known to be true, but couldn’t tell her. “And that guy… the one you were with…” She inhaled shakily. “Is this where you go every day?” she asked. She turned her head to make eye contact with Amber. “This… whatever this is… this is what you’ve been hiding from me.”

Krystal looked back down at their hands, and Amber followed her line of sight. She felt her heart sink as Krystal pulled her hand from Amber’s.

“Please tell me,” Krystal whispered. “The truth.”

“The truth,” Amber repeated softly.

How was she even supposed to do that? What was she supposed to tell her? What could she tell her? She couldn’t tell her everything, could she? Mary Sue didn’t trust Krystal with any information about the whole vampire apocalypse thing, because of her tendency to gossip. And while Amber understood this, she just couldn’t bear not to tell Krystal the truth after having lied to her for so long and hurting her as badly as she did today. She was so torn.

Amber inwardly sighed as she wondered when honesty became so difficult. Krystal’s eyes turned to her again, and she met them with her own. And she made her decision then. She would tell her everything, because she knew she could trust her, because Krystal deserved the truth. Because she owed her the truth.

So she told her everything. Starting with “Vampires are real,” because Amber figured that was a good starting point. And then she told her about Mary Sue being the Chosen One, about the clan of vampires and their plan to block out the sun and begin a vampire apocalypse, about the Hunters and their effort to stop it, and about her own involvement with the whole thing. When she finished telling, Krystal stared at her with such a bewildered expression.

“I don’t know whether to feel terrified or relieved,” she admitted. “I mean… I thought you were cheating on me.”

“I’m sorry,” Amber said. “I’m sorry I made you think that, and for lying to you constantly, and for acting so suspicious. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Krystal said, effectively quelling the string of apologies. “I understand why you did it now.” She smiled then, and took Amber’s hand back into her own, causing Amber’s heart to flutter. “Just be honest with me from now on,” Krystal said.

“Okay,” Amber agreed. She inhaled then, suddenly feeling way more honest than she had been in a long time, and before she could stop herself, blurted, “I love you.”

Krystal’s features suddenly took on a look of surprise. Amber was sure her heart would beat right out of her chest as she anticipated Krystal’s reaction. “W-what?”

Amber’s mouth felt very dry. She swallowed in a fruitless attempt to fix that. “I love you,” she said again meekly.

“That’s what I thought you said,” Krystal breathed before bringing their lips together in a kiss.

It was the first time they had actually kissed, and Amber felt it couldn’t be more perfect. Their lips melded sweetly together, and Amber thought her chest was going to explode, she was so elated. She didn’t know how long they stayed like that before she finally took Krystal home and bade her goodnight before kissing her again, suddenly unable to get enough.

 

The next day at lunch, Mary Sue hurried to the table with her tray. “We found out what the event is,” she said.

“You did?” Jonghyun asked.

“Yes,” she answered. “Chanyeol and I—“ She cut herself off as Krystal sat down at the table. “Uh… we were reading the book, and the… protagonist… uh…”

“I told Krystal everything,” Amber said bluntly.

The other three at the table eyed her questioningly.

“What do you mean you told her everything?” Mary Sue asked.

Amber waved her hand flippantly. “The whole vampire apocalypse thing, you being the Chosen One,” she answered. “I told her all of it.”

Krystal smiled in affirmation, while the other three stared at the two of them with terror, bewilderment, and amusement etched across their respective faces.

“What?!”


	20. Chapter 20

“Volcanoes? Massive earthquakes. A giant flood?” You looked at Chanyeol with wide eyes. “Do you think we’ll have to build an arc?”

“Mary Sue, what does an arc have to do with vampires?”

“I dunno,” you pondered. “But if the whole world flooded, the rainclouds would block out the sun.”

Chanyeol shook his head. “A flood wouldn’t exactly be beneficial to spreading vampirism though,” he said. “It has to be something else.”

You thought more about what the event could possibly be that the vampires were waiting for. Whatever it was, it had to be something that would somehow contribute to blocking out the sun, and also rare enough that they would have to wait for the opportunity it presented to put this prophecy in motion.

You had been trying to help Chanyeol more with research lately, saying it was because the event was only coming closer, and the sooner you could figure out when everything would go down, the more prepared you could be for it. You didn’t admit that it was also because you were avoiding training with Tao. After the way you had snapped at him and walked away, without understanding anything about him or his situation, you didn’t think you’d be able to face him again. Not for a while, at least.

You sighed, flipping another page of the almanac you had been skimming. Chanyeol was still buried in the book he was reading beside you. You glanced over at him. You didn’t know how he could be so focused. These old books were extremely boring to you.

“You know,” you said flippantly, “I kind of thought that being part of a prophecy and having a destiny that involved me going up against vampires would be a little more… _adventurous_.”

Chanyeol barely looked up in response before staring back at the pages he was immersed in. “What do you mean?” he asked, only half-listening to you.

“I mean you read about vampires and it’s this exciting and dramatic story about danger and romance,” you explained. “Nothing in the story says anything about reading ancient records of climate and natural disasters like I’m studying for a meteorology final or something.” You flipped a few pages of the dull read in front of you as you said it.

“Story?” Chanyeol asked in confusion.

“Yeah, haven’t you ever read a young adult novel?”

He shook his head.

You sighed, surprised that you had to explain this to him. “Vampires are a popular topic in fictitious romances,” you said. “Especially after _Twilight_.”

Chanyeol’s face depicted the most adorable confused pout you had ever seen. “Vampire stories become more popular after dark?”

You laughed. “Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of _Twilight_!” He shook his head. “Seriously?” You sighed. “It’s a book series about this girl who falls in love with a vampire. There’s _Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse_ , and _Breaking Dawn._ There’s movies about them!” You sat back, staring at him with incredulous amusement. “I can’t believe you haven’t heard of _Twilight_.”

But Chanyeol suddenly seemed deep in thought, as he was staring off into space with a serious look of contemplation. “What were the titles again?”

You looked at him. “ _Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse_ , and _Breaking Dawn_ ,” you repeated.

He grinned and stood up, going to the bookshelf and scanning titles. “Mary Sue, you’re a genius,” he said.

“What?” you said, but you found you couldn’t argue. “I mean, yeah. I am.” You stared confused as he pulled out a book and set it on the table, flipping it open. “Why am I a genius, again?”

“That’s the event they’re waiting for,” he explained.

“Twilight?” You gasped in realization. “Are they going to wait for sunset and then stop the rotation of the earth so it’s night constantly and plunge the world into darkness that way?”

Chanyeol laughed, still scanning the pages. “No, Mary Sue. That would only plunge half the world into darkness.” His finger stopped in the middle of a page and he smiled widely, his eyes lit up in excitement. “This is it,” he whispered.

“What’s it?”

He looked at you, his happiness contagious. “It’s an eclipse. They’re waiting for a solar eclipse. And I know when the next eclipse will be.”

You looked at each other excitedly before he rushed toward the door with the book.

“We have to tell the others,” Chanyeol exclaimed.

 

“An eclipse,” Amber repeated when you told your friends at lunch.

You nodded in response.

“Isn’t that in just a few weeks?” Krystal asked.

You still felt uneasy about Amber telling Krystal everything, but what could you do about it now?

“And how are they going to use the device and you for that?” Jonghyun wondered.

You shrugged. “We didn’t figure that out yet. But Chanyeol and the rest of the Hunters are sure now that it is the solar eclipse that the vampires are waiting for.”

“Well, at least we know how much time we have now,” Amber said.

Then Sunny and Sungmin joined the table, and you had to switch the topic to something much less apocalyptic.

 

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

It was 9 o’clock in the evening, already dark outside, and you were in your room, trying to figure out what that annoying sound was.

 _Tap_ , it persisted. _Tap. Tap._

You realized it was coming from the window. Suddenly you were very nervous. What was tapping on your window?

_Tap. Tap._

Oh God. What if it was a vampire trying to get in? Had they found out where you lived? What would you do?

 _Tap_.

You peered through your window from the opposite side of the room, trying to see if there were any dark figures creeping around just outside. You couldn’t see anyone.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Wait a minute. Were those…pebbles? You thought you saw something flying around out there. You took a few steps closer to the window to make sure.

_Tap. Tap._

Okay, that was definitely a tiny rock hitting your window. Who was throwing pebbles at your window? Someone was trying to get your attention. You walked over to your window and opened it to peek your head outside.

Standing in your yard and grinning at the sight of you was Chanyeol. You felt a smile tugging at your lips when you saw him, and he beckoned you down. Without a second thought, you climbed down the vines beside your window like you had done numerous times before.

“What are you doing here?” you demanded, smiling despite the apparent urgency of the situation. “Has something bad happened?”

Chanyeol grinned down at you. “Besides our impending doom in a few weeks? No,” he answered.

You pouted a little. “Then why are you here throwing rocks at my window?”

He gave a short laugh. He seemed a little nervous. “I just wanted to ask if you would come to dinner Sunday night,” he said. “It’s my birthday, and we all figured we should have at least one night of relaxation before we fall back into preparations for the eclipse.”

You scrunched up your nose in response. “I’m going to see you tomorrow,” you responded. “You couldn’t wait to tell me then?”

Chanyeol’s unabashed smile could only bring your lips back up to mirror it. “No,” he said. “I couldn’t wait.”

You laughed, glad it was dark and he couldn’t see the light blush on your cheeks. “Yes, of course I’ll come,” you told him.

His eyes lit up. “Great!” he exclaimed. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” You nodded and started to turn back to your house. “You can all come,” he added.

“We’ll be there,” you called over your shoulder.

“Don’t worry about bringing a gift or anything,” he said as you reached the vine at the base of your house. “Just show up!”

“Alright,” you laughed. “I look forward to it!” You waved at him and he waved back before you ascended up the vine and climbed into your bedroom window. You granted him a final wave before you shut the window on the chilly night and turned back to go to sleep, Chanyeol’s bright eyes and smile still burning bright in your mind.

Before jumping into bed, you rushed back to the window and threw it open again. Chanyeol was already on his way down the street to return to the church.

“Chanyeol!” you called out, and he turned around, a small, barely visible figure in the distant darkness. “Happy early birthday!” you yelled cheerily.

You didn’t think he could hear you very well though, because all he said was,

“What?!”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So like all of EXO overuses innuendos in this story sorry not sorry. Also there are some old meme references throughout if you haven't already noticed.

Laughter and warmth. You didn’t know how they could do it with the lives they lived, but the Hunters were the most joyful people you had ever met. All aware of the approaching apocalypse, knowing your days were possibly numbered, and here you were, all having dinner together in celebration, all full not of apprehension and anxiety, but of laughter and warmth.

Baekhyun was showing off his newly discovered power, holding up his hand, which emitted a blindingly bright beam of white light.

“That’s so amazing!” Chen commended.

“Yeah,” Sehun said. “Now he can dazzle the vampires into submission,” he teased.

“Did you forget the part when their eyes literally burned out of their sockets?” Baekhyun said, and Chanyeol enthusiastically nodded in confirmation.

“Besides,” Kai shot at Sehun, “what can you do? Sweep them off their feet?”

“Blow me,” Sehun spat at him.

“You do it better,” Kai retorted, grinning.

A gust of wind whipped across the table in Kai’s direction, effectively knocking over one of the candlesticks that had been lit to mark this as a special occasion. Before it could crash to the table and break, however, it righted itself, but you couldn’t really tell how it happened.

“Careful!” Luhan scolded Sehun. Kai laughed.

The oven _ding!_ ’d and Kyungsoo jumped up, muttering, “Casserole, casserole, casserole, casserole!”

“So how has training been going?” Xiu Min asked, looking around the table to address everyone involved, but then tentatively directing his gaze to you.

You avoided looking at Tao, who was sitting down the table a ways. You still hadn’t picked up training since you walked out on him, which you knew was a bad idea since you had never even begun to improve. But you just couldn’t bring yourself to face him, knowing what kind of a past he had. And he didn’t know that you knew, which would make things more awkward, because what if he didn’t want you to know? Even though you could tell Xiu Min was mostly talking to you because he was concerned, you kept silent and let someone else answer.

“Key’s incredible,” Kai said. “He could probably kick all of your asses by now.”

Key chuckled at this. “I could kick your ass too,” he bantered.

“Maybe if you could land a hit on me, you could,” Kai taunted cheekily.

“Maybe if you would stop teleporting during our sparring matches,” Key countered.

Kai smirked. “Too difficult for you?”

“Ha,” Key laughed. “I welcome the challenge.”

“I’m pretty hard to beat.”

“I’m sure you’re easier than you let on.”

Kai could only smirk and lick his lips in response.

“What about you, Jonghyun?” Suho directed the conversation toward your brother, and away from Kai who was now making strangely erotic expressions.

“Uh, it’s… good, I’m learning a lot,” he answered, a bit awkwardly you noticed. He seemed uncomfortable, which was weird because you had always known him to thrive in settings with lots of people, especially when the attention was on him.

You figured he was just nervous about the end of the world coming up.

“Well, Amber’s been improving a lot,” Kris took over. “She’s gotten the hang of the crossbow, and she can pretty much use every long range weapon we have in our arsenal—“

“I don’t know about that,” Amber deflected modestly.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Kris told her. “You guys should see her in action. I’ve seen her hit a moving target from twenty yards away. It’s truly impressive.” He smiled proudly at her, and she grinned bashfully at his praise.

“That’s great,” Suho said happily, satisfied that things were apparently going so well for everybody. “What about your training, Mary Sue?” he asked, just as Kyungsoo came back with the casserole.

Suddenly, Tao stood up from the table, fuming and angry. He looked around at everybody sitting at the table, who were all staring confusedly back at him. “What are we doing right now?” he demanded.

Kyungsoo stood still, frozen with the dish in his hands. “H-having dinner,” he stammered.

“Have you all forgotten about our impending doom in just a few weeks?” he asked. “How can you be celebrating at a time like this?”

“Didn’t you hear, training’s been going well,” Suho said. “And we know when the vampires are planning on using their device. We can calm down a little bit—“

“We still don’t know what the device is, or how they plan to use the Chosen One,” Tao argued. “And training for the Chosen One has not been going well. She can’t block, she can’t fight, she has no idea what she is doing. If the Chosen One can’t even protect herself,” Tao shouted, pointing at you, “then we’re all as good as dead!” With that, he stormed out of the room.

The entire room went silent as Tao’s words echoed over the table. Some of the Hunters were looking at you with concerned expressions, but you didn’t know what to say. Or if you should say anything at all.

Kyungsoo finally sat down with the casserole, just as Kris stood up from the table. He sighed. “I’ll go talk to him,” he said.

He started toward the door when Lay began following him. “I’ll help.”

You just sat there awkwardly, acutely aware of the silence and wishing that Tao hadn’t been so right.

 

“Tao?” Kris and Lay just caught up to him in the training room, practicing Wushu and covered in a layer of sweat, as if he’d been at it for a while. They both knew the training helped him focus. Kris shrugged and grabbed another Wushu stick, spinning it experimentally as he strode toward Tao. Just as the younger spun around, prepared to strike an invisible opponent, Kris blocked his strike with his own, successfully grabbing Tao’s attention. “What was that about?” he said.

Tao pushed away from him and leapt back. “What was what about?” he asked as they began to circle each other.

Kris laughed. “Don’t play dumb. I’m talking about just now. Lashing out at everyone, especially Mary Sue, and then just leaving Chanyeol’s birthday dinner?”

Tao’s eyes flickered in momentary apprehension before Kris attacked and he was forced to block him. “I was only telling the truth,” he growled, his expression hardened.

“Come on, Tao,” Kris said, moving in for another attack. “That’s just cold.” He dodged an angry swipe of Tao’s Wushu stick and stepped around him, keeping his guard up. “And really defeatist, saying we’re all as good as dead. I’ve never known you to say something like that before.” He looked at Tao with concern. “Was that the truth?”

Tao’s jaw clenched, and he spun away from Kris, only to be suddenly blocked by Lay on his other side. Slightly startled, he jumped from between them and raised his defense.

“You’ve always been confident in yourself,” Lay told him. “What’s eating at you now?”

Tao sighed irritably, his eyes darting between the other two. “I’ve never faced an approaching apocalypse before,” he rebutted.

“It’s more than just that,” Kris argued. “Tao…” He lowered his weapon and his defenses. “You know we’ve always been here for you. You can tell us anything,” he coaxed.

A tense moment passed between them before Tao reluctantly lowered his weapon as well. “I just...” he began, voice wavering slightly. “I feel like everyone around me is moving so slowly, and tomorrow is always so far away, and I just keep thinking…What if time just stops completely? What if tomorrow never comes?”

“Tao,” Lay said softly, stepping forward and extending a comforting hand. “We’re all worried about the future—“

“It’s not just that,” Tao cried. “It’s like I’ll just be stuck in one moment forever!”

“It’s okay,” Kris said, trying to calm his friend. “We understand.”

“No, you _don’t!_ ”

He lashed forward as he said it, pushing past the two who had begun closing in on him, moving far too fast for them to see. They both turned around, surprised to suddenly see him on the other side of the training room, kneeling down and crying softly.

“Tao,” Kris almost whispered. “Your talisman…”

With a shuddering breath, Tao looked down at the bracelet he wore, a crude hourglass symbol held onto his wrist by multiple thin chains. It was glowing brightly, a deep purple hue.

“How long has this been happening?” Lay asked him.

Tao looked up at them both, his eyes wide in awe and realization.

 

Jonghyun stared down at the running water before splashing some on his face. He had escaped the tense dining room with the excuse of having to use the bathroom, but really he just wanted to separate himself from all of that. Not just the atmosphere that Tao had left behind, but Key and Kai—whatever that was.

He shook his head a little bit. He wasn’t even really sure what he was so bothered about. So what if they were so close all of a sudden? Why should Jonghyun care? Key could have whatever friends he wanted.

 _Except Kai,_ his subconscious muttered before he could stop it. Something about Kai just irked him. From the moment he claimed Key after he beat him in that sparring match of theirs. It was like Kai just took possession of Key. Key was _Jonghyun’s_ friend, maybe even his best friend— _maybe even_ —no.

Jonghyun sighed. His subconscious had been starting to get the better of him lately.

He exited the bathroom to head back to the others, when he was met with the second to last person he wanted to see right now.

“Are you okay?” Key asked him.

“I’m fine,” Jonghyun answered.

“Are you sure? Because you seem a little… unfocused lately.”

“Maybe you’re just a little _too_ focused,” Jonghyun mumbled in response.

Key blinked and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What is that even supposed to mean?”

Jonghyun didn’t actually know what he meant by that, so he didn’t say anything.

Key let out a sigh. “Listen, Jonghyun, this whole thing,” he began, rolling his eyes at the ridiculous plotline they were caught up in. “It’s crazy. And I’m still not entirely convinced that I haven’t just gone insane and this is all happening in my imagination.”

There was a pause, and Jonghyun looked up at Key’s expression curiously. He seemed to be debating with himself about something, but Jonghyun didn’t know what it could be.

“If this is real though,” he continued, somewhat meekly. “And there really is going to be some vampire apocalypse happening in a few weeks, then I don’t want—“

A sudden flash of black smoke appeared in the hallway beside them, causing Jonghyun to nearly jump out of his skin.

“Am I interrupting something?” Kai asked, his tone of voice suggesting that he really hoped he was.

Jonghyun really hated that guy.

“Yes.”

“No,” Jonghyun answered, clenching his jaw involuntarily.

Jonghyun avoided Key’s gaze, afraid of whatever expression might be directed toward him. But seeing Kai’s smug look of amusement wasn’t any better.

“Nothing,” he answered again, before turning his back on them and stalking off down the hallway.

 

“This was the best birthday I’ve ever had,” Chanyeol said as the two of you stood outside the church.

“You’ve had some really terrible birthdays, haven’t you?” you replied. Shortly after Tao had stormed off and Kris and Lay followed, other people had started leaving the table as well for various reasons, and you knew it was all because of you and your stupid awkward atmosphere that seemed to follow you and plague your relationships. Dinner was cut relatively short.

Chanyeol laughed in response. “We don’t celebrate much,” he answered. “Of anything.”

“Oh,” you whispered in understanding.

“But I’m really glad you came,” he continued. You looked up to see him grinning at you and you smiled back warmly. You didn’t know why your heart rate had begun to increase, but it did. And then your body temperature started rising, and you couldn’t tell if it was because Chanyeol was suddenly closer to you or because of your heart rate increasing. Then your eyes were closing and you could feel his breath on your face and then you felt so many things at once.

You felt his lips on yours, soft and tentative, and you felt your heart pounding rapidly against your ribcage. You felt warm and elated and terrified, and you even felt like maybe you were—

“No,” he hissed, and you were deprived of him only a second later. “I’m sorry, Mary Sue,” he whispered lowly, his eyes wide but his smile gone.

“What?” you stammered. “I…no, why—what?”

“I’m sorry.” He swallowed. “I can’t.”

“W-why not?” You felt like crying, having experienced his taste and, with it, the best feeling in the world, and then having it torn away in an instant.

“I’m supposed to protect you,” he said. “Not be distracted by my feelings for you.”

“Feelings?” you repeated, barely audible.

“You’re the Chosen One,” he said firmly, his eyes boring into yours, and you could see the pain in them as well, and feel it through the connection you shared, amplified by your own identical pain. “As long as you are the Chosen One,” he continued, “I’m sworn to protect you. And I’ll do that.” He swallowed again and looked away from your face. “And only that.”

You tried to protest. “Y-you don’t have to—“

“It’s the only way,” he interrupted, stopping your argument.

You couldn’t say anything more. The two of you stood there in silence until the other three people you came with exited the church, and you left him without another word.

 

You hated yourself. You hated that you couldn’t protect yourself. You hated that no one could depend on you for anything. You hated that so many people risked so much just for your sake. You hated not being able to do anything about it.

You really wanted to do something about it.

You sighed as you paced about your room. What could you do about it? Somehow prove to Chanyeol that you didn’t need his protection so badly, that you weren’t so helpless and could look out for yourself.

How would you do that? You couldn’t train anymore with Tao, especially after how angry he had been at dinner.

But training doesn’t exactly prove that you can take care of yourself when you’re actually up against vampires. The best way to prove that would be to do it when you’re actually up against vampires.

You stopped pacing. Maybe you could do that. You knew when they would be using you for the eclipse, so as far as you could tell, you weren’t in any immediate danger until a few weeks from now. Maybe you could do a little reconnaissance and figure out what this device was and bring that information back to the Hunters. Maybe then you could prove your own abilities and show that Chanyeol didn’t have to worry so much about you.

You would need some help though, and not from the Hunters. You knew none of them would like the idea of you going on a mission without having trained enough, but you couldn’t do it alone.

Without a second thought, you rushed out of your room to get Jonghyun.

 

“I’m coming! Chill the fuck out!” Key shouted as he went to answer whoever was frantically pounding on the door.

When he opened it, he found Mary Sue, Amber, and Jonghyun, all staring at him expectantly.

Key rolled his eyes and sighed, not happy to see the people he just shared an already awkward night with, and certainly not happy about wherever this was going.

He stared at each of their faces.

_“What?!”_


	22. Chapter 22

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Key demanded as you drove through an unfamiliar part of town in the Lamborghini you and Jonghyun shared.

“Take the next left,” you muttered to Jonghyun, scrutinizing the small map you had pulled up on your phone.

“Answer me, damn it!” Key said.

“We’re going to a cemetery on the edge of town,” you answered him.

“Is that where the vampires’ lair is?” he asked warily.

You shrugged. “I mean, yeah,” you said. “I think so.”

He raised an eyebrow at you. “You _think_ so?”

You nodded.

He sighed. “Well, does any of this scenery look familiar to you?”

You looked out the windows at the passing neighborhood, which was full of overgrown trees that hovered over the narrow street and old crumbling houses. Then you turned back to Key and shook your head.

“Do you remember any landmarks or anything from the last time you were there?” Key asked.

You thought back. “Well, I was unconscious when the vampires were taking me there,” you answered.

“Of course,” Key muttered under his breath.

“And we left it by teleporting out,” you finished.

Key gaped at you. “So you’ve never even seen the outside?” You shook your head again, and he sighed exasperatedly. “Why are you taking us to some random cemetery then?”

“Where else would a lair full of vampires be?” you reasoned. He made a sound in protest, but you cut him off before he could say something to deter you. “Come on, Key, it makes sense. An old cemetery with a mausoleum is the perfect place for vampires to live. Trust me,” you assured him. “I’m the Chosen One.” Then you turned back around in your seat.

“So what’s the plan when we get there?” Amber asked.

“Assuming we’re not just walking aimlessly into a death trap or wandering around an empty, unextraordinary graveyard,” Key muttered.

“When we get there,” you answered, “find the device, figure out what it does and whatever other information we can find, leave before any vampires can catch up to us.”

“I like it,” Key said in an upbeat voice. “Simple, to the point, and it operates on the naïve assumption that everything Mary Sue suggests is reality.” Then he started grumbling about dream logic and the rest of you pretty much ignored him at that point.

You pulled up to the wrought iron gates about ten minutes later and exited the car.

“So, Mary Sue,” Key said cheerily as you walked between headstones. “Where’s the entrance to the vampires’ lair?”

You pointed ahead to a small stone building in the center of the plot. “I would think it’s in the mausoleum,” you said.

“Of course,” Key agreed. “The mausoleum.” He sighed and trudged ahead toward the structure. “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered.

Once inside, the four of you slowly looked around, inspecting the small markers on the resting places of the dead.

“What are we looking for?” Jonghyun asked.

“Well, I’m pretty sure their hideout is underground,” you said. “So…”

You strode to the center of the room where a large, marble edifice stood proudly. You placed your hands experimentally on the side of it and started pushing. It wouldn’t budge.

You heard Key scoff, so you stood up and faced the other three. “A little help?”

Jonghyun and Amber immediately rushed to your side, and Key did as well, albeit reluctantly. The slab ground against the cement floor as it slid away, revealing a large hole where it once stood and some ancient-looking stone steps. “Damn it,” Key hissed to himself.

“Okay,” you said, straightening up. “Let’s go.”

You took a few steps downward, but Key stopped you.

“Woah, wait a minute,” he said, holding out his hand. “I _know_ we’re not supposed to be down there.”

You scoffed at him. “At what point did you expect to get the vampires’ permission for going into their lair?”

He just gave you an incredulous look before rolling his eyes and heaving a great sigh. “I really hope I wake up soon,” he muttered, following you into the chasm.

Underground was like a labyrinth. Hallways upon hallways, all lined with torches and speckled with mysterious-looking doors here and there. You continued down random corridors, with Key grumbling every time you turned around a corner.

“You’re going to get us lost down here,” he hissed. “And then we’ll be trapped, and we’ll die down here of starvation or suffocation or insanity!”

“Relax,” you told him. “The vampires would find us and kill us before that could ever happen.”

You ignored his protests and kept walking.

You were trying to imagine just what a device that would be used to block out the sun would look like when you stumbled upon a vast room, made of stone walls and full of lit torches. In the center of the room was a large stone… thing.

As you approached it, you could see it in better detail. It was round. Cylindrical, actually, and layered with different sized cylinders, with the largest on the bottom and the smallest at the top. Every inch of it was covered with what looked like carved runes in the stone. The thing looked ancient and temperamental.

You couldn’t fathom what it could possibly be used for.

“I think,” Amber began to say, approaching the thing. “I think this might be it.”

“Really?” Jonghyun asked, eyes full of amazement as he beheld the object.

You considered the thing before you. “How would I be used for it?” you pondered aloud.

“Are you guys fucking _crazy_?!” you heard Key’s voice hiss from behind you.

The rest of you turned around to see him slinking against a wall in a shadow behind a pillar, staring at the three of you in the middle of the vast room.

“What are you talking about?” you asked him.

He scoffed at you incredulously. “You just waltz up to some giant … _thing_ in the middle of some vast room in what is presumably a lair of vampires, and none of you stop to even look around in case there’s somebody else in here, or even to think, ‘Hey, maybe this isn’t such a good idea, and we should turn back now before we _do_ get caught by somebody who wants to suck our blood!’” His gestures became increasingly more flailing as he said this.

You just stared at him in response, before smiling assuredly at him. “Calm down, Key,” you said. “We’re not going to get caught. There aren’t even any vampires around.”

Just then, you heard voices coming from the entrance, then close footsteps. You hurried to hide behind the pillar Key was hiding behind, followed by Amber and Jonghyun.

“Everything’s almost in place,” whispered a deep voice, which you recognized. It was TOP. “The device has been recovered and restored. It will be ready by the twenty-first.”

You heard a chuckle. “Will you have the girl by the twenty-first?” This voice was higher pitched and unfamiliar. “Or will you let her slip through your clutches once again?”

TOP let out a low growl. “I will get her in time for the eclipse,” he responded irritably. “Don’t you worry about that.”

“Make sure you do,” the other retorted. “You’ve had many chances to capture her, and you’ve failed every time.”

“I’ve succeeded in capturing her before.”

“And yet, she got away.” The higher-pitched voice chuckled again. “I don’t understand why Ga In hasn’t just sent another to do the job.”

TOP snarled at him. “ _I_ will be the one to bring her to the ritual. And I won’t let her escape again.”

“I don’t understand why you insist to be the one to handle the Chosen One,” said the other after a pause.

TOP sighed. “If you were there,” he said. “If you had been close enough to her…you would know.” There was another short pause before he continued with a hint of defense and passion in his voice. “If you experienced her _essence_ , her scent, you would understand why I can’t resist her.” The vampire inhaled deeply and let it out in a sigh. “I can smell it now,” he breathed. “It’s like she’s here.” He took another deep breath.

You swallowed, trying to stop your heart from jumping out of your throat. _He could smell you._ He would find you soon enough, there was no way for you to get away quickly.

“She’s here,” you heard TOP whisper. “The Chosen One is here.”

You looked back at Key, Jonghyun and Amber, who were all staring at you with expressions of terror. You couldn’t let them all be captured as well.

“Chosen One,” boomed TOP’s deep growl, reverberating off the stone walls. “Come out. I won’t bite…” You could picture him grinning as he said it, sharp teeth glinting in the torchlight.

There was no way out of this one.

After a quick gesture telling the others to get away quickly and find help, you stepped out slowly from behind the pillar to face the vampires.

 

Chanyeol quietly approached the vine on the side of Mary Sue’s house leading up to her bedroom window. He had come to apologize to her for kissing her out of nowhere. It was unfair to her for him to selfishly let his own feelings take over without even giving her an explanation. He really wanted her to know his intentions, and he couldn’t wait until tomorrow to tell her.

He could never wait to see Mary Sue.

And since it was much later than the last time he just showed up at her house to tell her something, he figured he should probably forgo the rock throwing and just climb into her window to tell her.

When he reached the window, however, he found it was already open, and once he crept inside, he found the room was empty. No Mary Sue in sight.

Drawing his eyebrows together in worry, he looked around the room for anything out of the ordinary, but he couldn’t really find anything. There was no sign of a struggle. There were no strange notes or anything that offered an explanation for Mary Sue’s absence. There was nothing that told him anything about Mary Sue’s current location or state of being.

Then something flashed and caught his attention, and his eyes alighted on his Phoenix Talisman hanging from a hook by the mirror.

Chanyeol knew that wasn’t a good sign.

 

Jonghyun sped down the creepy unfamiliar roads as fast as his Lamborghini would take him. He, Amber, and Key had managed to escape the vampires’ lair unnoticed, and now Mary Sue’s life was depending on him to get to the Hunters fast enough to get their help.

He screeched the luxury vehicle to a halt in front of the old church, trying not to imagine what must be happening to Mary Sue right now, and the three of them rushed inside. He was slightly surprised to see the Hunters already in a bit of a frenzy, with Chanyeol arguing with a few of the others.

“We don’t know for sure that’s what happened,” Suho was saying. “She could have gone for a walk.”

“No!” Chanyeol shouted. “Not Mary Sue, she’s smarter than to leave the talisman behind on purpose. She had to have been kidnapped!” He shook the talisman in front of their faces as if to emphasize just how urgent the situation was.

Jonghyun, who had gone completely unnoticed thus far, approached the Hunters with an, “Ahem.”

They all turned toward him, and Chanyeol’s eyes became even wider than Jonghyun thought possible.

“Mary Sue’s in trouble,” Jonghyun stated firmly.

“She was kidnapped by vampires?!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

“Not exactly,” Key answered.

Chanyeol looked at him confusedly. “What do you mean, not exactly?”

“Oh, she’s with the vampires,” Key explained. “But she wasn’t kidnapped. She sort of just…” His arms trailed in front of him as he visually explained. “Walked willfully into their clutches.”

Jonghyun thought Chanyeol was about to explode with the way he looked suddenly.

“What?!”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mild violence, further mentions of Tao's tragic backstory, slightly sexual implications surrounding vampires.

“Leader Ga In.” The two vampires who brought you from the chamber with the device both knelt down ceremoniously before standing again.

Ga In looked very intrigued by your sudden appearance in the lair. “What’s this?” she breathed, her voice high and melodic.

TOP smirked. “The Chosen One decided to pay us a visit,” he answered.

“She wandered in like a mouse in a trap,” remarked the other.

Ga In chuckled in delight. Her eyes were alight with amusement as she gracefully strode up to you. She reached out a hand to lightly your hair, and you flinched away from it. “Where’s you protection, Chosen One?” she taunted you.

You wished you hadn’t decided to leave the talisman behind. You didn’t want Chanyeol to follow you before and stop you, but now you really wished he could find you. You hoped the others had gotten away and found help.

“What should we do with her?” TOP asked.

Ga In withdrew her hand, eyes darkening. “We need her blood for the ritual.”

“Without the Hunter’s talisman protecting her,” the other vampire said, “we can kill her and drain it tonight.”

Ga In’s eyes flashed and she glanced between the two vampires on either side of you. “And risk either one of you losing control at the scent of her blood and consuming her entirely? No.” She looked back at you, her gaze boring into yours intensely. “We’ll keep her alive until the eclipse. She no longer has the connection with the Hunter that would lead him here. Put her in a cell,” she said decisively, waving a hand and turning away.

The other two nodded and turned you away to leave the chamber.

“Oh, and TOP?” Ga In turned around to address the tall vampire.

“Yes, Leader Ga In,” he answered.

“I know it’s tempting,” she told him, “but try to control yourself. Her blood only works if it’s pure.”

He nodded stiffly and they began to lead you away from the throne.

But before you got very far, she called out again, “Max!”

The other vampire who had been holding you turned to her expectantly.

“Make sure he doesn’t lose control,” she ordered.

Max bowed to her and you were taken to a small holding cell, much like the one you and Donghae had been trapped in the last time you were here. You had expected they would leave you there alone, but instead the two vampires stayed inside the cell with you.

“Aren’t you going to leave?” you asked them, with just a hint of defiance in your voice.

TOP chuckled darkly. “We aren’t taking any chances this time,” he growled. “I’m not taking my eyes off of you until the eclipse.”

You pouted and sat on the ground with a sigh.

“Besides,” he continued lowly. “You smell far too delicious. I’d like to enjoy your sweet perfume before we have to kill you.”

Well, things just got a lot creepier for you. You tried to keep quiet then and ignore the two vampires.

“You’ve been with the Hunters,” Max said.

You kept ignoring him.

“How are they?” he asked you.

You scrunched up your eyebrows in confusion, but didn’t answer him. Why was he asking you this?

He chuckled. “I’ve been meaning to get back in touch with an old friend of mine,” he said.

You didn’t know what he was going on about, but just the tone he was using was enough to make you feel uneasy.

“But I don’t think he would be very happy to see me,” he sighed, just dramatically enough to seem like he was faking his sorrow. “Tell me, Chosen One,” Max addressed you again. “Does he still hold a grudge against me?”

You had no idea what he was talking about.

“Is he still obsessed with finding me and killing me with his own hands?” he asked, a sadistic grin spreading across his face. “Does he still writhe in his sleep, while his nightmares are plagued with that night?”

You suddenly turned to him, confused and somewhat annoyed. “Who are you even asking me about?” Honestly, how could he expect you to know when he only said _he_.

Max laughed darkly, his grin growing wider so that his sharp teeth were almost fully visible. “Tao,” he growled.

Your eyes widened. Could this be the vampire who killed Tao’s parents?

“Tell me,” he said, staring at you intently, his eyes burning with intensity.

“Tell you what?” you demanded.

“Tell me he’s still driven by the thought of revenge,” he said. “Tell me he still pushes himself to exhaustion when he trains. Tell me,” he leaned forward, “about the Hunter I created.”

“Enough of this,” TOP interrupted, and Max’s expression darkened. He glanced at the other vampire, who you noticed had pressed himself against the wall opposite you and was pointedly looking away.

Max’s eyebrows drew together at the sight of him. “TOP,” he warned. “Control yourself.”

TOP swallowed, visibly tense. He turned quickly, his eyes locking onto you, and you could see his pupils were heavily dilated. Max slowly stepped forward, trying to block you from his view, but TOP still kept his gaze fixed on you. “You want her too,” he said softly.

“But I have far more self control than you do,” Max responded.

“Can you smell it?” TOP nearly whispered. “The blood of the Chosen One, like sweet nectar. The fragrance is so strong, I can nearly…” He licked his lips sensually. “…taste it.”

He was on you in an instant, having bypassed Max and pinned you up against the brick wall, his teeth grazing the base of your throat. “Just a taste…” he growled.

Fire was the next thing you saw. A wall of fire before your eyes, the heat hitting your face. TOP tore himself away from you. When the blaze cleared away, you could see his singed face, contorted with fury as he stared at the source of the flame.

Chanyeol was standing there, furious and panting heavily, along with Kai, Tao and Kris.

Your heart leapt at the sight of them. You hoped this meant the others had gotten away safely and gone to the Hunters for help.

TOP bolted from the room. Chanyeol ran to follow, but Kai held him back.

“Let’s get Mary Sue out of here,” he said, and Chanyeol tore his eyes away from the direction TOP had run. He and Kai took hold of you and you felt that familiar rushing sensation as you teleported from the vampires’ lair.

 

Tao stood frozen, shocked and unmoving, watching as Kris fought with the vampire before him. He had recognized him immediately, from the moment they appeared in that room. For years, Tao had been searching for this vampire, imagined countless ways he would kill him when he finally found him. He fought him in his dreams every night, and prepared himself for it every day. But now that this vampire was finally before him, Tao found that he couldn’t move.

Even when Max had pinned Kris to the wall, Tao remained frozen. The feeling was all too familiar.

Max grinned at Tao as he held Kris in place. “You should probably hurry up and fight me,” he said. “He will be back with reinforcements.” He nodded his head toward the door, which the other vampire had escaped through.

Tao could only stare back at him.

“Or do you intend to make this a repeat of what happened that night?” the vampire growled.

Kris looked back and forth between the other two, confusion and a bit of fear in his eyes. “Tao,” he grunted, trying to get the other to snap out of this trance he seemed to be in.

“You couldn’t fight me then either,” Max continued, eyes boring into Tao’s. “You stood there and watched silently, paralyzed by fear, as I drank the life from your parents.” He smirked sadistically.

Tao felt his anger flare up inside him at the mention of his parents. He inhaled deeply, his eyes becoming daggers pointed in the direction of the vampire. “I will fight you,” he said with resolve. “But not tonight. Not now.”

The vampire laughed darkly. “And your friend here.” He turned his face toward Kris, and they were inches apart. “Do you intend to do nothing as I drink his blood too?” Max grazed his lips along Kris’s jaw, inhaling deeply as he did so.

Tao noticed Kris gulp in fear, but he still didn’t move. He knew Max couldn’t bite Kris as long as he wore his Dragon Talisman. Max was only doing this to get to Tao, to taunt him and get under his skin. He wanted a reaction.

Then, Max slid his tongue slowly up Kris’s neck, and finally Tao reacted. Without letting another second pass, he tore Kris from the vampire’s grasp too fast for either of them to react, and bolted from the cell and the lair altogether.

Tao had wanted so badly to fight Max then. After waiting so long to exact his revenge, it was just within his grasp. But he couldn’t fight him then. Not like that, not with Kris there. He would fight him alone. Another time.

Tao smirked. He had all the time in the world.

 

“What were you _thinking_?” Chanyeol demanded the moment you were safely in the Hunters’ headquarters.

“Better question,” Kai interrupted. “Where did those flames come from?”

Chanyeol shot a glare at Kai, who seemed extremely excited and amused as ever, before turning back to you.

“I gave you this to protect you,” he said firmly, holding up the Phoenix Talisman, which was now glowing a bright orange. “Why would you just leave it behind?”

You could only stare sheepishly at him.

“Dude, seriously?” Kai pressed. “Fire? So awesome! I can’t even—“

“And deliberately putting yourself in danger like that? Not only did you forget the talisman, but you just walked right into their lair? What possessed you—“

“And you just did it without even thinking about it!” Kai laughed, clapping a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Do you mind?” Chanyeol snapped.

“Fine.” Kai removed his hand from his shoulder. “But we _will_ talk about this,” he said as he headed for the door. “You’re not off the hook yet!”

When you were alone, Chanyeol sighed and faced you again. He seemed to have calmed down a little now that Kai was out of the room.

“Why, Mary Sue?” he asked you, his voice much softer than before.

You just wanted to prove that you didn’t need him to constantly protect you. _Well, you royally screwed that one up, didn’t you?_

You sighed. “I found the device,” you said eventually.

Chanyeol looked a little taken aback. “You what?”

“The device,” you repeated. “The one they’re going to use for the eclipse. I found it.”

He blinked. Twice.

“Really?”

You nodded. “It’s this big… stone… thing,” you described, using your hands to illustrate. “And it’s got all these…symbols carved into it. It’s kinda round…”

“You shouldn’t have risked your life just to find the device,” Chanyeol sighed. “The information is valuable, but you’re far more so.”

You nodded, blushing. “I found out something else,” you said then, looking up into his wide, brown eyes.

He returned your gaze with a questioning look.

“I know what they need from me,” you elaborated. “To make the machine work, they need my blood. There’s something special about it, because they said that it’s… _pure_.”

Before you could say anything else, Chanyeol had pulled you into a tight hug. You were a little shocked by this, but you tentatively wrapped your arms around him.

“Just don’t put yourself in danger like that ever again,” he whispered into your hair. “If something ever happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.”

You nodded, tears beginning to well up, and he released you. Then he hung his talisman around your neck, just as you were joined by Jonghyun, Key, and Amber, who had been led into the room by Kai.

As you hugged your friends and assured them you were okay, Kai raised his eyebrows at Chanyeol.

“Let’s talk about that power of yours,” he said.

 

You found Tao in the training room. Just where you thought he would be. He was panting heavily and drenched in sweat, even though he and Kris had gotten back just a few minutes ago. You sighed, still not really wanting to go through with this. He hadn’t noticed you yet, you could still turn back.

No, Mary Sue, let’s have a little maturity.

You walked directly up to Tao in the middle of the room and cleared your throat to get his attention. He immediately stopped what he was doing and looked up at you curiously.

“H-hi,” you said awkwardly. It was kind of weird talking to him after you’ve been avoiding him for so long.

He nodded at you. “Hi,” he said.

You smiled a little bit, hoping it would diffuse the tension between you two. He just continued to look at you though. Why can’t he smile back at you just this once?

“I wanted to apologize,” you finally said. You looked at him to gauge his reaction, but his expression didn’t change, so you continued. “For quitting on you and refusing to train. You were right. I wasn’t prepared to defend myself,” you said. “I’m still not.”

Tao considered your apology for a moment. He then nodded and said, “I’m sorry too.” He sighed and scratched his head. “I should have listened to you when you said the training wasn’t working for you. Sorry for pushing you like that.”

You smiled again, a bit more at ease. Maybe Tao wasn’t so bad. “Xiumin told me,” you said hesitantly. “A-about your parents.” You stood completely still for a moment, afraid that he might lash out at your for bringing up his past, which you probably weren’t even supposed to know about.

Instead, he sighed resignedly and sat down. You cautiously lowered yourself to sit beside him.

“I’ve been training for almost ten years,” he said. “Fighting vampires, perfecting my skills in combat, all so that when I face him, I can be prepared.” He turned to look at you. “I had the opportunity to fight him tonight. I could have killed him. But I didn’t.”

“Why not?” you asked.

He exhaled slowly. “I didn’t feel prepared enough,” he said softly. “Because you shouldn’t rush into something like that without being prepared.”

You bit your lip tentatively. “So what you’re saying is that it was stupid to go looking for the vampires’ lair?” you asked.

He nodded. “It was stupid.”

You pouted, a bit miffed that he just called you stupid. But then he did something you never expected him to. He smiled at you.

“I would have done the same thing,” he told you.

You couldn’t help but smile back. “You would?” Somehow, knowing this made you feel more of a kinship with Tao.

He nodded again. “But I wouldn’t have left my talisman behind,” he said. “ _That_ was stupid, Mary Sue.”

You chuckled at that, and he joined in, and you suddenly realized that that was the first time he had said your name without any kind of spite or irritation.

 

“This was still the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

You smiled up at Chanyeol and giggled. “Is this like the first year you’ve ever celebrated your birthday?”

He just gave one enthusiastic nod. “Yep.”

Your face fell at that, but he just grinned wider.

“See you tomorrow,” you said a little awkwardly, and started to turn back to your house to climb the vine to your bedroom.

“See you then,” he replied.

You wished you both could have said more. You felt like there were so many things left unsaid between you. You considered this for a moment as you held the talisman between your fingers. Then a thought occurred to you.

“How did you know I left it behind?” you asked, staring up at Chanyeol. He gave you a questioning look. “The talisman. I mean, I know the connection would have been cut off, but I left it in my room, and when you rescued me you had it.”

Chanyeol let out a short breath of a laugh. “I found it in your room. How else would I have had it?”

“But…” That didn’t really answer your question fully.

“I snuck into your room the same way you always do,” Chanyeol explained. “I just climbed the vine.” He grinned at you as if he hadn’t just admitted something strange.

“You…” You trailed off.

He laughed. “You really need a better security system, Mary Sue.”

You blinked at him.

“What?!”


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: same mentions of past character death, mentioned past mugging (no one died), awkward discussions about supernatural powers as a thinly veiled metaphor.

The wooden target completely incinerated and collapsed to the floor in a charred heap. Its attacker only giggled at the sight.

“You seem very cheerful today,” Baekhyun told Chanyeol, smirking. “Like, more than your usual cheerful self.”

Chanyeol shrugged, grinning widely. “’Tis the season,” he remarked as he threw another fireball at the line of targets.

Baekhyun pursed his lips. “You were thinking about Mary Sue, weren’t you?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chanyeol said innocently.

Baekhyun just raised his eyebrows at him in a don’t-play-dumb-with-me expression.

Chanyeol sighed. “Alright, I was thinking about her. But she’s the Chosen One,” he defended. “I should be thinking about her well being.”

“You were thinking about more than just her well being,” Baekhyun quipped.

They both snickered and Chanyeol shot down another target. Then Baekhyun’s face fell into a more serious expression.

“It’s dangerous, you know,” he said solemnly. “Getting involved like that.”

“Getting involved?” Chanyeol repeated. “We’re all sworn to protect her, I have to get involved.”

Baekhyun sighed pointedly. “You know what I mean. If you let your emotions get in the way—“

“I’m not going to,” Chanyeol interrupted.

“Then if we fail?” The question hung in the air for a moment. Chanyeol kept his eyes focused on the targets in front of him, and Baekhyun kept his own worried gaze on Chanyeol. “You would blame yourself. Wouldn’t you?”

Chanyeol’s jaw tensed, and he still refused to look at his friend. Baekhyun looked away, sighing.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt,” he murmured softly. “If we fail.”

Chanyeol swallowed. “Then we won’t fail.” He obliterated the remaining few targets with a final sweep of flames. Then he turned and strode away, leaving the other Hunter standing in a reverie.

 

_Knock knock._

Tao looked up from the object in his hands to see Xiu Min standing in the doorway with a timid expression.

“Hey,” he said with a small smile.

Tao returned it. “Hi.”

Xiu Min took that as a welcome and came in to sit beside Tao on the bed. His eyes glanced over what Tao had been staring at—an old, folded picture of his parents and himself, soft and worn at the edges and the crease.

“How are you?” he asked quietly. He knew Tao had been training harder than ever after coming face to face with the vampire who had killed his parents for the first time since it had happened.

Tao smiled meekly. “Alright,” he answered.

Xiu Min nodded. “How has training Mary Sue been going?” he asked, mostly just to change the subject.

The other thought for a moment. “Better,” he said. “She’s been improving over the past week or so. A lot more willing, too, since she…” He trailed off briefly. “Since we apologized.” His eyebrows drew together as he stared back at the picture in his hands.

Xiu Min hesitated. “Sorry that I told her,” he mumbled apologetically. “It was probably really intrusive, I know, and inappropriate—“

“Thank you,” Tao said, smiling at him weakly but earnestly. Xiu Min relaxed at that. “I think I would have hated you for it before,” Tao admitted. “But…Mary Sue and I understand each other better now that she knows, so thank you.”

The other Hunter smiled. “Well, you also understand where she was coming from now that you have a grasp on your power,” he remarked.

Tao breathed out a short laugh. “It helps,” he concurred.

“And the apocalypse is just a couple weeks away,” Xiu Min added. “Looks like you got it just in time.”

He nudged him, and they both shared a smile.

 

“Lay? Can I ask you something?”

The healer glanced up briefly from the shopping list. “Sure, what’s up?”

Kris hesitated and sighed a little. “When you first got your powers,” he ventured, “what was it like?”

Lay laughed a little at the question. “What do you mean, what was it like?” he said.

“I mean, what happened?” Kris replied.

“Well,” Lay began matter-of-factly, perusing the produce. “When I was a kid, maybe fifteen, I was mugged by some idiot thugs and I took a knife to the gut. Stumbled around for a bit after that until I realized I felt fine, and looked down to find I wasn’t bleeding anymore. You couldn’t even tell I was stabbed.” He grabbed a ginger root and tossed it into the shopping basket.

Kris pondered the story a little before asking, “Did you feel anything?”

“You mean besides the immense pain of having a knife shoved into you?” Lay raised his eyebrows at the other. “What is this about?”

Kris looked down at the floor self-consciously. “I’m the only one left,” he mumbled lowly.

Lay considered him for a second. “Since when has this ever mattered?” he remarked. “You never cared this much about it before.”

The blond gulped. “Since the apocalypse was just a couple weeks away,” he said. “And everyone just started getting their powers recently. Sehun and Baekhyun both discovered theirs not very long ago,” Kris recounted. “Then Tao realized his own had also manifested, and now Chanyeol.” He looked at Lay, a bit worried and crestfallen. “I’m the only one of us who hasn’t unlocked it.”

“That’s not true,” Lay said, trying to console him a bit. “What about…?”

Kris shook his head. “I’m not so sure about him,” he answered. “He hasn’t ever talked about it.”

“Probably because he hasn’t discovered his either,” Lay said.

“I don’t know.” Kris shoved his hands in his pockets as Lay stopped to scrutinize a bundle of herbs. “He’s not really open about much. If he had it, do you think he would even tell us about it?”

Lay shrugged. When he noticed that Kris still seemed unsure and apprehensive he sighed. “Look, when I got my power, it was a life-or-death situation,” he explained. “In fact, a lot of us unlocked them at a moment when we really needed it.”

“So you’re saying I never needed it before?” Kris said, grumbling.

“All I’m saying is when you do discover your power,” Lay said, grinning reassuringly, “it’ll be just in time.”

Kris rolled his eyes, but he smiled a little as Lay turned and continued down the aisle.

 

“How can you read that?” Sehun muttered, partly in distaste and partly in admiration.

“Huh?” Luhan looked up from the old text. “Oh, I learned it when I was younger,” he said a bit absent-mindedly.

“Really?” Sehun peered over his shoulder at the words that made no sense to him. “Where?”

Luhan chuckled softly. “I had a teacher.”

The younger nodded in comprehension and sat on the arm of the chair, hovering over the other. It was silent for a moment as Luhan scanned the text.

“Can you teach me something?” Sehun asked, breaking the silence again.

Luhan smiled. “What do you want to know?”

The other shrugged. “I don’t care, anything.” He looked at Luhan. “Something pretty.”

“Alright.” The older thought for a few seconds and smiled up at Sehun again. “ _Mi amice te amo_ ,” he recited.

“ _Mi amice_ …” Sehun repeated, experimentally shaping to the foreign words.

“ _Te amo_ ,” Luhan finished for him.

“ _Mi amice te amo_ ,” Sehun said. He thought it sounded much better when Luhan said it. Like music. “What does that mean?” he asked eagerly.

Luhan’s eyes sparkled as he smiled at Sehun. “It means,” he answered, “’I—‘”

He was cut off by the sudden appearance of black smoke, which brought with it a noisy Kai, intruding on his and Sehun’s conversation.

“How’s the research coming?” he asked. “Do you know anything about the ritual yet? How they’re going to use Mary Sue’s blood?” He picked up a spherical object from a nearby desk and started tossing it up and down and glanced at Luhan and Sehun, who were both staring at him pointedly. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “Were you two having a moment? Should I leave?”

Sehun huffed and rolled his eyes, and Luhan just turned his attention back to the tome he was reading.

“I haven’t found anything that could help us yet,” Luhan said. “So far, it’s just been about the conditions needed for the device to work and a little bit about the prophecy. Nothing we don’t yet already know.”

Luhan turned his eyes back to the book and became silent after that.

Kai tossed the object up and down looking contemplative. “So I was thinking,” he trailed. “Do you guys wonder what Kris’s power will be?”

“I don’t think it’s for us to speculate about,” Sehun replied, eyeing Kai carefully to make sure he didn’t break anything valuable.

Kai laughed airily through his teeth. “Aren’t you at least curious about it? I bet it’s something really cool. I mean, his talisman is a dragon, so it’s gotta be awesome.” He glanced at Sehun, who wasn’t trying to hide his annoyance. “At least, you know,” he shrugged a shoulder in his direction. “More powerful than a breeze.”

Sehun sent a sharp gust of wind toward Kai, effectively knocking the object out of his hands and onto the floor. Kai gave him a look that was a mixture of incredulousness and amusement. _He was always so fucking amused._

Sehun had expected Luhan to scold him for that, but he seemed too engrossed in his reading at the moment, his eyes darting quickly across the pages.

Kai smirked at Sehun. “Careful there,” he said. “Wouldn’t want you messing up my hair.”

Sehun huffed.

“But it’s not _my_ hair you want to mess up, is it?” Kai winked suggestively.

“I could kill you right now if I wanted to,” Sehun spat.

“Woah, isn’t that a bit much?” Kai retorted. “I mean, maybe if you could shoot flames like Chanyeol, or electrocute me like Chen. Hell, even Xiumin could freeze me to death. But wind?” He cocked his head to the side. “That’s kind of an empty threat.”

Sehun was about to retort, when Kai cut him off.

“What’s Luhan’s power?” His eyes, full of taunting excitement, focused on Luhan, who was still ignoring the argument going on around him. “He’s always been so mysterious about it,” Kai said. “But I know he has it.”

“That’s not any of your business,” Sehun spat defensively.

“Ooh-hoo, sensitive,” Kai taunted. “You know, when it comes to Luhan, you’re a bit…” He raised his eyebrows challengingly. “Touchy.”

Sehun narrowed his eyes at the other, who smirked and licked his lips back.

“What were you guys doing before I came in here, huh?” he asked, glancing back and forth between the two.

“Guys, shut up,” Luhan ordered, effectively ending the argument. “I’ve found something.”

Kai and Sehun looked at each other, reflecting each other’s curious and slightly concerned looks.

“What is it?” Sehun asked.

“It’s the ritual,” Luhan answered. “For it to work, they need Mary Sue’s blood,” he stated. “All of it.” He stared up at the other two. “If they get her in time for the eclipse,” he began. “They’re going to kill her during the ritual.”

The other two stared back at Luhan, mirroring each other’s shocked expressions.

“What?!”


	25. Chapter 25

Jonghyun was sparring with Key in the training room at the church, just like they had been for the past couple weeks. They were the only two in the room as they fought hand-to-hand with each other, testing each other’s weak points. Jonghyun noticed an opening and went for it, effectively knocking Key to the ground and pinning his hands above his head.

They were both breathing heavily and staring at each other.

“It looks like I have you,” Jonghyun panted.

Key’s gaze was unfaltering and he chuckled and whispered, “I let you have me.”

Jonghyun felt his heart beat faster, and it wasn’t from the physical exertion. Hesitantly, yet assuredly, he let his face lower toward Key’s, and their lips joined together in a slow, heated kiss. He freed Key’s hands and let them wrap around his neck and entwine themselves in his hair. He let Key push him to the ground and roll on top of him, their lips never separating. Jonghyun slid his hands down to Key’s waist and pulled him closer, wanting to feel his body on his. Their warmth radiated off of each other. They forgot their surroundings as they succumbed to each other’s pleasure.

 

“Ah!”

Jonghyun shot up in bed, drenched in sweat and panting heavily. He rubbed his eyes with his palms.

He did _not_ just have a sexual dream about his best friend.

He groaned. _Yes he did._

He fell back onto his pillow with a huff. He tried to tell himself that the coming apocalypse was just getting to him. He was just stressed. But the part of him that wasn’t full of bullshit knew that that wasn’t true.

With a sigh, he rolled over and tried to fall back asleep. Hopefully with less dreams this time.

 

You were in a fantastic mood! It was the last day of school before winter break started, and even though the eclipse was in just a few days, you couldn’t help but feel all warm and fuzzy with the holiday spirit. After all, you were the Chosen One. How could you not be in a good mood?

“If it’s blood,” Key was saying at lunch. “Couldn’t Jonghyun’s blood also be used by the vampires?”

You looked at him questioningly.

“I mean, you two are identical twins, you have the same blood and everything,” he continued.

“Um, no, Key,” you said. “The prophecy is about a girl, so Jonghyun can’t possibly be the Chosen One,” you corrected. “ _Obviously_.”

“Of course,” Key exclaimed, exaggeratedly palming himself on the forehead. “How could somebody else possibly be as special as Mary Sue?” he questioned. “What on earth was I thinking?”

You smiled at him, glad that he understood.

“Where is Jonghyun, by the way?” you asked. You didn’t see him anywhere in the cafeteria.

Key and Amber shrugged in response.

“He said he wasn’t feeling well,” Amber explained. “He’s skipping out on lunch today.”

 

Jonghyun wandered the halls of the school, trying to avoid the cafeteria altogether. He found himself being drawn toward a faint melody being carried through the halls. It grew in volume as he drew closer and closer to its source, until finally he found himself just outside of the music room. He had never been here before.

Tentatively, he pushed the door open and went inside. The room was empty of people except for one person playing a grand piano. So this is what was creating that entrancing tune. He took a few more steps, and was suddenly startled to realize Donghae was the one playing.

So this is why Jonghyun never saw him in the cafeteria.

He stood silently, listening to Donghae’s song until it was finished, not wanting to interrupt. When Donghae finally brought his hands from the keys, Jonghyun spoke.

“That was beautiful,” he said softly.

Donghae turned around startled, but relaxed and smiled when he saw who it was.

“Did you write it?” Jonghyun asked him.

Donghae looked bashfully at the piano. “Yeah,” he answered. “It’s for Eunhyuk.” He turned around again to face Jonghyun. “Do you think he’ll like it?”

Jonghyun smiled and nodded in response.

“Do you play at all?”

Jonghyun laughed a little uneasily. “A little,” he answered. “I’m not very good though.”

“Nonsense,” Donghae said. With a warm smile, he scooted over on the piano bench and indicated for Jonghyun to sit next to him.

He hesitantly complied and stared uneasily at the keys.

“Play anything,” Donghae encouraged.

Jonghyun awkwardly placed his hands on the keys and slowly began playing a simple melody, a tune that was oddly familiar to him, yet he couldn’t quite place it.

After a few measures, Donghae joined in with some low chords. Jonghyun felt like they made the song somehow fuller and warmer.

“Something’s troubling you,” Donghae stated softly as they played.

Jonghyun considered this for a moment before answering, “I feel like life has gotten ahead of me.” He noticed Donghae glance at him thoughtfully for a moment. “I’m not sure I know who I am anymore.”

Donghae smiled and exhaled through his nose. “I know what that feels like.”

Jonghyun smiled too, remembering all the times the other had opened up to him about his feelings.

“How are you and Eunhyuk doing?” he asked, noticing how Donghae’s smile grew at the mention of Eunhyuk.

“I’m glad I was finally honest about my feelings,” he answered.

That wasn’t exactly the answer Jonghyun was expecting.

“Do you want my advice?” Donghae asked.

Jonghyun looked a little apprehensively toward Donghae, but he didn’t refuse.

Donghae let their music take over for a few moments before saying, “Be honest with yourself first.”

The final chords of their song reverberated between them as Jonghyun looked at Donghae, and Donghae gazed warmly back. Jonghyun would consider his advice. After all, he thought smiling, he was the Lee Donghae.

 

Jonghyun ducked beneath the swing of a leg and spun around behind Key. Key turned himself around quickly enough to block Jonghyun’s oncoming hook. He sent a jab of his own, which Jonghyun effectively avoided. It continued like this in the Hunters’ training room, the two of them sparring under a few of the Hunters’ supervision, while Jonghyun tried to keep his mind focused on things other than his dream the other night. He thought about the apocalypse in a couple days. Apocalypses tended to make good boner kills.

He sent another jab as a distraction, then tripped Key from behind. But Key held onto his arm and pulled him to the ground with him.

And suddenly they were in a position that was a little bit too familiar to Jonghyun, and images of his dream flashed through his mind. Jonghyun’s mind went blank and he couldn’t move. He could only stare down at Key. Key took advantage of the moment and flipped their positions, and Jonghyun tried really hard to keep his mind away from the thoughts pervading it.

“You let your guard down,” Key stated. He stood up and offered a hand to Jonghyun, which he tentatively took and allowed Key to pull him up. “You can’t let down your defenses,” Key said. “Even if you think you already have me.”

Jonghyun blushed at his words and tried to look in some other direction that wasn’t where Key was currently. It was a little conspicuous though.

“You’ve been very distracted lately,” Key observed. “What’s on your mind?”

 _You’re on my mind._ “Nothing,” Jonghyun said, trying to laugh it off.

Key eyed him doubtfully. “This isn’t nothing,” he said simply. “What’s been getting to you?”

 _You have._ “I—it’s nothing, just… maybe I’m just nervous about the end of the world coming up,” Jonghyun stammered.

“Is that what it is?” Key asked.

 _No_. Jonghyun nodded.

Key still seemed doubtful. “If there’s something else—“

“You don’t need to know everything about me, okay?” Jonghyun snapped.

He probably shouldn’t have done that. Key’s expression became rather hurt. He tried to hide it, but Key was never very good at hiding whatever he was feeling at the moment.

“Okay,” he said meekly, taking a step back. “I guess you and I are done here then.”

He meant the training. But Jonghyun couldn’t help but feel like he meant something else too.

Just then, Lay came up beside him and slapped an arm around his shoulders. He looked back and forth between Jonghyun and Key, raising his eyebrows suggestively at Key’s back as he walked away, a knowing grin plastered on his face all the while.

“You know,” Lay began. “If ever there was a time to confess one’s feelings…” he trailed.

Jonghyun rolled his eyes and sighed. “When did it become so complicated?” he muttered, more to himself than anything.

“Think of it this way,” Lay said. “In a few days, it will all be over.”

Jonghyun stared at the Hunter’s grinning face. That thought didn’t really offer him any comfort at all.

Lay seemed to notice this, because he sighed and said, “Come on, I’ll teach you some remedies for calming the mind.”

Jonghyun let him lead him out of the room. He could use a remedy like that.

 

He sighed as he looked over himself in the mirror. Talking with Donghae had brought him back to a time when things were simpler. When he was happy and he knew who he was.

Now, standing in Mary Sue’s room wearing the wig he had worn so many times before and reminiscing about the past, Jonghyun didn’t know who he was anymore.

He pulled at the strands that cascaded down his shoulders. He used to be secure in his identity. Now, ever since Donghae admitted his true love for Eunhyuk and redefined for Jonghyun the limits of love, Jonghyun had been questioning himself, and he felt like his world was falling apart.

He heard a disturbance at the window and turned quickly to see two men who had apparently climbed the vine to get into the room. He gasped when he realized they were both vampires.

One of them chuckled as he quickly surveyed the room and Jonghyun. “You really need a better security system, Chosen One,” he said, stepping forward predatorily.

Before Jonghyun could even utter a sound, they both forced themselves onto him. He struggled, but they were too strong and fast for him to defend himself, and were dragging him from the room in a matter of seconds.

In the back of his mind, the part that wasn’t screaming in terror, he wondered when life had gotten so ahead of him.

 

You scrambled up the steps of the church, panting heavily. Chanyeol had clearly felt your distress and was waiting for you in the chapel when you frantically tried to explain what had happened.

Jonghyun wasn’t home and you couldn’t find him. With the eclipse coming in just a day, you could only assume the vampires had kidnapped him to use him as bait or collateral to get to you.

You were too out of breath to get out a complete sentence. All you could do was pant out a string of words. “Jonghyun…vampires…kidnapped,” you said, hoping Chanyeol would understand.

It seemed like he understood. His eyebrows rose in concern and panic.

“What?!”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Major character death, but it's temporary because of supernatural bullshit. There's some blood and violence. Breaking of the fourth wall.

“Take me with you!”

“No, Mary Sue!” Chanyeol’s hands were on your shoulders as he stared earnestly into your eyes. You pouted back at him.

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing while you and Jonghyun and everyone else are in danger because of me.”

“Mary Sue, we’ll get Jonghyun back,” he insisted. “I promise. But above all, we have to protect the Chosen One.”

You cringed internally when he called you that.

“You’ll be safe here where we won’t have to worry about you,” he continued. “So no matter how concerned you are about us, you have to stay here. Understand?”

You nodded, annoyed.

He gave you that grin of his, the one with the wide eyes and all of his teeth, and you couldn’t help but smile back. The Phoenix Talisman, which he was now wearing around his neck, flashed orange and caught your eye for a moment.

Baekhyun came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You ready?”

Chanyeol nodded at him and followed him and the rest of the Hunters out, shooting you one last smile before they disappeared, leaving you alone with only Kris and Luhan, who were to stay with you and make sure you didn’t try to leave.

An awkward few seconds passed before Kris cleared his throat.

“Are you hungry?” he asked you.

You shook your head, but then changed your mind. “Yeah.” You turned to look up at him. “Can you make me something?” you asked sweetly.

He nodded and smiled and left the room.

Luhan then turned his attention to you. “Do you need anything else?” he offered.

“No,” you answered, plopping yourself down onto the sofa. “I’m really tired from all of this. I think I just need to sleep.”

He nodded. “I’ll let you sleep, then.” He turned off the lamp and shut the door quietly so you would have some peace.

 

Jonghyun was led harshly to a huge stone room and shoved before a throne where a female vampire was sitting.

She grinned at the sight of him. “Once again, you have managed to bring me the Chosen One,” she said. Her voice had a musical quality. “Well done, TOP.”

Jonghyun was totally confused by this, until he realized he was still wearing the wig. And when he was wearing the wig, _nobody_ could tell him and Mary Sue apart. _Nobody_.

“I’m not the Chosen One,” he corrected meekly.

The vampire’s eyes flashed angrily at him. “What are you saying?”

He glared up at her defiantly. “I said, I’m not the Chosen One.” He slid the wig from his head and watched her face contort into a furious expression.

She glared at the vampire who had brought him here. “You useless fool!” she shrieked. “You’ve brought me a decoy!” She lashed her hand out and slapped Jonghyun across the face. The force threw him to the ground. He brought a hand up to his cheek and looked at it. She drew blood.

Just then, he noticed her pupils had dilated, and she brought her fingers to her lips, licking ravenously at the blood beneath her nails.

“I don’t understand,” she breathed. “Your taste.” She licked her fingers fervently. “Your blood. Who are you?”

Something suddenly occurred to Jonghyun. If his blood could be of use to these vampires, then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t go after Mary Sue. He stood up slowly, trying to ignore his shaking legs, and squared his shoulders at the vampire in front of him.

“I’m the Chosen One’s twin brother,” he stated firmly. “Her identical twin brother.”

She gasped. The sound was a strange mixture of realization and pleasure. “Of course,” she breathed. “You look just like her. You even have the same brown eyes as she.” She held him roughly then and buried her face in his neck, inhaling deeply. “And the same blood.” She brought her head up suddenly and addressed the other vampires in the room. “Put him in a cell until the eclipse,” she said. “We will use him for the ritual.”

TOP forcefully grabbed Jonghyun by the arm and led him toward the exit.

“Well done, TOP. It would seem you haven’t completely failed me,” Ga In said. “Make sure it stays that way,” she added as a warning.

Jonghyun had no idea what she meant by that. But the thought was somehow terrifying.

 

You crept swiftly through the halls of the Hunters’ hideout, avoiding the two men assigned to watch over you. You couldn’t just wait around while the people you cared about were endangering themselves for your sake, and you certainly couldn’t stand by and let Jonghyun be harmed at the hands of vampires who wanted your blood.

You wouldn’t let anyone get hurt because of you.

Without running into Kris or Luhan, you managed to reach the chapel and strode between the pews, trying to come up with a game plan.

You would go to the vampires’ hideout. You would make sure Jonghyun was okay. You would find him and free him and fight your way through any vampires who tried to stop you.

As you threw the church doors open, cold winter air hit your face. Your car was still parked outside, and you got inside and revved up the engine, taking off down the street.

Above all, you wouldn’t let yourself be used to start a vampire apocalypse. You wouldn’t be the catalyst. You would be the hero who stopped it.

After all, you were the Chosen One.

 

Jonghyun sat at the far wall of his cell, watching the two vampires who were watching him. TOP was staring lustfully at him, licking his lips.

“TOP,” warned the other. “Restrain yourself.”

“Se7en,” TOP growled. “I know I’m not the only one who desires the blood of the Chosen One. You must want it too.”

“You’re the youngest vampire of us,” Se7en said. “You have the least amount of self control.” With a growl, he said, “I heard what happened last time.”

TOP snarled at Se7en angrily.

“Perhaps, if you cannot handle it,” Se7en suggested. “You should stay away from the ritual altogether. We can’t have you lapping up the blood from the stone, can we?” he taunted.

“I will be fine,” TOP spat.

“You had better be,” the other warned. “If you can’t restrain yourself from taking him,” he indicated Jonghyun. “We won’t have enough time to retrieve _her_ for the ritual.”

Jonghyun’s ears perked at this. Maybe he could stop this on his own, and the vampires wouldn’t get the chance to use his blood for the eclipse, and Mary Sue would still be safe. He gulped at the thought. It was a terrifying idea. But if it was for his own sister, and for his friends, he could sacrifice himself.

“Is my blood really that good?” he asked tentatively.

Se7en glowered at him. “Ignore him,” he growled.

TOP only chuckled darkly. “You have no idea,” he answered.

Jonghyun nodded slowly and looked away, trying to look unfazed by everything. He brought his hand up to the cut on his cheek. “Ow,” he hissed.

TOP’s eyes widened in an almost concerned expression. “What is it?” he questioned.

Jonghyun glanced back at him. “Nothing,” he said, inconspicuously picking the cut open again. “I just thought the bleeding would have stopped by now.” He slowly dragged his bloody fingers down to his neck, making sure the vampires saw the motion, while trying to seem nonchalant about it at the same time.

TOP drew in a shuddering breath, and Se7en eyed him warily. “TOP,” he hissed. “Stay where you are.”

“He’s already bleeding,” TOP exhaled. “Why let it go to waste?”

Before Se7en could say anything else, TOP was across the room and had Jonghyun pinned to the wall, licking the blood off his face. He followed the trail down to his neck, and Jonghyun felt his senses heighten from the adrenaline. His instincts told him to push away, but he reminded himself of why he was doing this.

Unable to control himself anymore, TOP sunk his teeth into Jonghyun’s neck. For an instant, Jonghyun suddenly thought this wasn’t such a good idea. But then the venom kicked in, and Jonghyun felt himself succumbing to TOP’s embrace, pulling the vampire even closer.

Then a rush of cool air, and Se7en had TOP pinned to the opposite wall. No longer being held by the vampire, Jonghyun fell to the ground.

“You fool!” Se7en growled at TOP. “You’ve tainted him. His blood is of no use to us now!”

TOP tore his gaze from Jonghyun and looked at Se7en.

“Go,” the older vampire hissed. “We must tell leader Ga In of this.” He released his grip on TOP. “Leave him here,” he said looking at Jonghyun’s crumpled figure on the floor. “I have no intentions of being here when he turns.”

With that, the two vampires left Jonghyun alone in the cell, weak and wondering what he could have meant by that statement.

 

“Is she okay?”

Luhan nodded. “She’s asleep.”

Kris smiled and continued cooking as Luhan sighed and leaned against the counter.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” he sighed, his eyes full of worry.

Kris considered him a moment and nodded. “Of course,” he said, trying to remain confident. “They can all take care of themselves.” _They all have their powers,_ he thought.

He tried not to dwell on the thought that he and Luhan were probably left behind because they were the only ones who didn’t yet have their powers.

Although he still wasn’t so sure about Luhan.

Maybe he could ask him about it? He glanced over at the other Hunter, who was still gazing off with a worried expression. Kris cleared his throat. “Luhan?”

Luhan’s concentration broke and he glanced up at Kris questioningly. “Yeah?”

He hesitated. “Do you think they left us behind with Mary Sue because of our powers?”

He hoped he wasn’t being too obvious.

Luhan just looked confused. “What do you mean?”

Maybe he wasn’t being obvious enough.

“I mean they can all take care of themselves because they’ve all discovered their powers by now,” he elaborated. “But I don’t have my power yet, and you…”

He left the thought open, hoping Luhan might fill it in for him, but instead he just smiled in understanding. “Don’t worry,” Luhan told him kindly. “You’ll get your power when the time is right.”

Kris still had no idea about Luhan.

He didn’t have anything else to say though, so he just stirred the packet of flavoring into the noodles he was cooking and poured the dish into a bowl.

“I’ll take this to Mary Sue,” he mumbled, leaving Luhan in the kitchen.

When he peered into the room they had left Mary Sue in, however, he found she wasn’t sleeping on the couch. She was gone.

He rushed back to tell Luhan.

“What?” The Hunter’s eyes were wide with confusion. “What do you mean she’s gone?”

“She’s not in the room,” Kris repeated. “She must’ve gone after them.”

Luhan wavered a little. “How do you know she went after them? She could’ve just gone to the bathroom or something.”

Kris sighed. “This is Mary Sue we’re talking about,” he argued. “Do you really think she would just stay put while everyone else was risking their lives for her?”

Luhan could only stand there, his mouth hanging open in worry and shock, until Kris grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him away.

“Come on,” he said breathlessly. “We have to find her. Before something bad happens.”

As they stepped out into the cold winter air, their worries confirmed by the absence of Mary Sue’s car, Kris tried not to think about what would happen if they didn’t find Mary Sue in time.

 

It was a race against time as the Hunters all spread out over the area after arriving on the grounds of the vampires’ lair, trying to find and rescue Jonghyun before the eclipse began.

Not that Tao had a problem racing against time.

He turned another corridor, the sound of his footsteps echoing off the stone walls, and kept running.

The time controller had separated himself from the rest of the group early on. He had his own agenda on this mission, and he didn’t want any of the other Hunters to interfere. This was his chance to repay his parents’ killer for what he had done. It was his chance for revenge.

He heard a low chuckle reverberating through the halls and stopped running, his heart beating quickly as he recognized the sound of that voice.

Max stepped out from a passageway on the side and stood smirking as he looked over his adversary. “Well, well,” he said, sounding pleased. “What have we here?” He stepped lazily forward. “Have you finally come to take from me…” His grin grew to reveal his sharp, gleaming teeth. “…what you’ve craved for so long?”

Without responding, Tao spread his legs into a fighting stance, eliciting a low growl from the vampire.

“A little eager, aren’t we?” He let out an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. “Maybe we should take it a little slower,” he said. “It’s never satisfying if we get right to the action and skip all of the foreplay.” The vampire grinned at Tao. “I want it to be good for both of us.”

“I’ve waited for ten years,” Tao hissed. “That’s enough foreplay for me. I’ll be satisfied once I kill you.”

Tao steeled himself, his heart racing in anticipation as Max stepped forward, finally able to face the man he had hunted for so long.

He was ready.

As the two enemies stood still, eyes narrowed calculatingly as each considered how to attack, Tao was sure of one thing.

By the end of this battle, at least one of them would be dead.

He vowed to make sure Max wouldn’t be the victor, just as the vampire lunged menacingly forward and Tao ducked out of the way just in time.

 

It was quiet. Almost peaceful. And cold. The ground was hard, the air was damp, and the world was dark. And Jonghyun felt numb.

He had done it. He had sacrificed himself so that he couldn’t be used to stop the eclipse, and now the vampires had no one.

He wondered what would happen to him now. Right now, he was just waiting. Mulling over his choices as he lay there in the cell, wondering if he was going to die, and how long it would take.

He thought about his family. Mary Sue would be safe from the vampires now. He hoped she wasn’t worrying too much about him.

He thought about his friends, and how they could all live freely now without worrying about a vampire apocalypse. He knew they would all be okay without him.

He thought about Key. He wished he had had the courage just to tell him how he felt. But his insecurities always got in the way. And now he was alone, in a dark room underground, the feeling in his limbs beginning to ebb away as he went numb.

Jonghyun thought that if he had a chance to do it over again, he would tell Key from the beginning how he felt, and he wouldn’t run away from it.

He knew it was hopeless, but Jonghyun wished for a second chance.

 

Kai ran down the dank corridor, adrenaline pumping through his veins. The Hunters had split up into groups, in hopes of finding Jonghyun faster. He just happened to be searching with Kyungsoo, Key, and Amber. He had been the one to decide their grouping.

They hadn’t run into any vampires yet, to Kai’s disappointment. He was hoping this mission would bring some excitement to his day, but so far it was just a lot of running and nothing else. No vampires. No excitement.

So to entertain himself, he decided to run behind everybody and discreetly check out their asses as they ran.

Suddenly, a dark peal of laughter echoed throughout the corridor, and the four of them stopped and looked around, trying to find the source of the laughter. Kai’s eyes landed on a figure emerging from the shadows. He smirked. ‘Bout time something interesting happened.

“What do we have here?” asked the vampire, whom Kai recognized as Xiah, one of the more important clan members.

Kai stepped cockily toward the vampire. “Why don’t you guys keep going,” Kai suggested. “I can handle this.”

Xiah’s eyes held a menacing yet intriguing spark.

Kyungsoo gave him a worried look. “Are you sure about this?”

Kai kept his eyes on Xiah. “Run along kids, and let the grownups talk,” he said.

This relaxed Kyungsoo just slightly, and he smiled and shook his head. “Don’t let that arrogance of yours get you killed,” he warned.

“Don’t worry about me,” Kai said. “I always have an escape plan, if need be.” He winked at Kyungsoo before watching him turn and lead the others onward.

“Am I to mistake your actions for bravery?” Xiah asked. “A selfless sacrifice for the sake of your friends?”

Kai cocked his head in response. “I thought you knew me better than that, Xiah.”

The vampire chuckled. “Your over confidence will be your downfall,” he said.

“I have a good safety net,” Kai responded.

Xiah’s eyes alit on the triangular talisman hanging over the Hunter’s heart. “It’s true, I can’t bite you while you have that,” he admitted.

“That’s okay, we all have performance issues now and then.”

The vampire’s lip rose over his teeth in a snarl. “But I can kill you in other ways.”

Kai moved into a stance more suitable for fighting. “A little less talk,” he said.

Xiah followed suit.

Kai smirked. He loved fighting vampires.

 

You panted and turned left to find yet another long corridor of stone walls lined with lit torches. So far, you hadn’t found anyone, friend or foe, as you ran through the vampires’ hideout. You took a right and were met with a similar setting.

 _This place is like a labyrinth,_ you thought.

You needed to find Jonghyun and make sure he was okay. He was probably in a holding cell somewhere, maybe with a thick steel door like the one in the cell you had been in. You couldn’t say which one though. There were a lot of hallways and a lot of doors.

You had to start opening doors if you wanted any hope of finding Jonghyun.

Empty. Empty. Empty. Keep trying. You had to keep trying. You had to find someone, anyone.

Or the plot. The plot would be a good thing to find.

You turned another corner and opened another door. This room wasn’t empty. In fact, it was full of lavish furniture and drapery. A four-poster bed with lace hangings took up a good portion of it. You were momentarily captivated by the setting, standing entranced in the doorway.

“Well, well,” you heard a breathy, sing-song voice say. “What do we have here?”

You had just stumbled your way into Ga In’s bedchamber, falling straight into the clutches of the clan leader.

You were about to run from the room, but in an instant she blocked the doorway. Her dark eyes glinted malevolently as she smiled, reaching a hand up to your face.

“The Chosen One has graced us with her presence after all,” she said lowly, her cool touch paralyzing you. “What a pleasant surprise.”

Her smile revealed her gleaming white teeth and she gazed at you hungrily.

“Come,” she said, sliding her fingers from your face all the way down your arm to your wrist, where she took hold of you and began guiding you further into the room. “Let’s make you presentable, shall we?”

You couldn’t resist her pull, following her as she held your gaze with her own. You gulped in fear.

Her eyes flashed with delight. “You should be ready for the ritual. After all,” she whispered, “you’re the guest of honor.”

 

Sehun was running after Suho, with Chen trailing just behind, following his leader through hallway after stone hallway. This entire place seemed to just be stone hallways lined with lit torches. Every corner they turned presented them with an identical hallway, and Sehun was beginning to wonder if there was anything else in this place, or if they were all just trapped in a paradox, doomed to run down stone hallways with lit torches forever, until they finally reached a room that looked important.

It was a vast room, still with stone walls and lit torches. But in the center of the room was what looked like a big, round, stone thing. Of sorts.

The three of them stopped, and Suho motioned for them to be quiet as he carefully stepped toward the giant thing, glancing around him to make sure no vampires ambushed them or something.

They approached the thing, and Sehun got a better look at it. It was like three cylindrical slabs, stacked on top of each other, decreasing in size as they went up. And every visible surface was covered in ancient runes.

“Is this the device they’re going to use?” Chen whispered.

Suho ran a hand over some of the runes. “I think it is,” he answered.

Suddenly, a low chuckle reverberated through the vast room, growing in volume. The Hunters spun around, instinctively turning their backs to each other. Sehun then saw a figure lurk out from behind a stone pillar.

“Well, well, well,” the vampire growled. “What do we have here?”

“Rain,” Suho addressed. “Don’t tell me Ga In has you on guard duty.” He spoke in an ironically friendly tone.

“I chose to watch over the device myself,” Rain retorted.

Suho chuckled. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere.” He gestured at the thing. “It’s kind of… massive.”

“And attached to the ground,” Sehun added.

Rain shot him a dirty snarl. “The device is crucial to the ritual,” he stated. “I intend to keep it from being destroyed, and I will kill anybody who plans to.”

Suho paused and looked around the room, his stance oddly casual, as if his guard wasn’t up. He then looked back at Rain. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but you’re outnumbered here,” he said.

Rain only grinned darkly. “Actually,” he said, “It is you who are outnumbered.”

Five other vampires stepped out from the shadows behind other stone pillars, and the three Hunters found themselves surrounded. Suho cocked his head. “Good,” he said grinning. “I was afraid this was going to be too easy.”

The three Hunters readied their stances. Sehun felt his adrenaline kick in. He noticed two of the vampires eyeing him in particular, marking him as their target. He glanced at Suho and Chen, then back at Rain and the other vampires. _Prepare yourselves for a storm,_ he thought, grinning.

 

“ _Mary had a little lamb,_ ” sang your captor as she applied a faint layer of rouge to your cheeks, giving you a rosy complexion. “ _Its fleece was white as snow._ ”

Ga In finished her work and stepped back, allowing you to scrutinize your reflection in her tarnished vanity mirror.

You looked like a doll. Your impossibly colored hair was in curls and your bright green eyes were framed by long dark eyelashes. A lacy white dress also hugged your frame, making you look even more childishly innocent.

The vampire smiled, pleased at the sight of you, and she gently took your hand again with that paralyzing touch that you couldn’t resist.

“Come, little lamb,” she coaxed. “It’s almost time for the sacrifice.”

You couldn’t move away, and you couldn’t fight against her. There was something about her that just wouldn’t let you pull away. You were trapped beneath her hungry stare, caught under her control, and there was no way out of this one.

She grinned maliciously, sending your heart into your throat as she walked you from the room and through the winding corridors, to your ultimate end.

 

Jonghyun pressed his face against the cool stone of the wall he was leaning against. He was certain it had gotten hotter while he was in there. He felt clammy, and a little dizzy, and he no longer had any accurate conception of time, so he had no idea how long he had been sitting in there alone. Regretting all of his decisions.

He heard a faint sound from outside the cell. It kind of sounded like someone was calling his name.

So he was having audial hallucinations now too. He supposed this must be what death was like.

The calling grew louder, and he held his head, praying for the disturbance to stop. It seemed to be so close now, right outside the steel door. “Jonghyun!”

“Aaaagh!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. He couldn’t take this anymore.

The calling stopped then. He exhaled shakily and relaxed back against the cold stone.

Suddenly, the opposite wall exploded into his cell! Jonghyun leapt to his feet in surprise. The dust cleared from the brand new hole in the wall, revealing Kyungsoo standing there in a strong stance, and Key and Amber just behind him. The latter two rushed into the room and embraced Jonghyun. For a moment, he couldn’t comprehend what was happening, but when he finally did, he felt overcome with relief and emotions.

“We should probably get away from here,” Kyungsoo said, causing them to break apart. “I doubt nobody heard that.”

They all started out of the room. Jonghyun followed after Kyungsoo and Amber, but was suddenly halted by a gentle tug on his arm. He looked back at Key curiously as the other two continued down the hall in haste.

Key suddenly seemed at a loss for words, and he quickly removed his hand from Jonghyun’s arm. “I don’t want to have any regrets,” he finally let out.

Jonghyun gazed at him. His mind was still kind of hazy at the moment. “What are you saying?” he asked.

Key was really flustered. “I… I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know what to say anymore. I don’t know what to think. But for once, I just don’t want thinking to get in the way of—“

Jonghyun didn’t even realize what he was doing until it was happening. He had done it. He kissed Key. The instant their lips touched, Jonghyun felt suddenly terrified. What if this was a mistake?

But then he felt Key tangle his fingers in his hair and draw him closer. And he wrapped his arms around Key’s waist and slid them up his back and pulled their bodies closer too.

They stayed there in the dusty cell, kissing for Jonghyun didn’t know how long, because time was still kind of muddled to him, neither wanting to let the other go. Because what if there wasn’t another chance?

Finally, Key hesitantly and gently broke away, but his hands remained where they were. “We should go,” he whispered.

Jonghyun nodded, his nose brushing softly against Key’s cheek. Key was right. Amber and Kyungsoo were probably long gone now, and they should probably follow suit before something happens. They couldn’t have the plot furthering without them.

He reluctantly unwrapped himself and prepared to go find the plot. They started for the hole in the wall, when suddenly—  
“Well, what do we have here?” TOP emerged from the dust-cloudy hall, eyes sparkling when they landed on the two in the cell.

Uh-oh. It seemed the plot had found them.

 

Tao grunted as his back hit the wall. His arms were held up in front of him, tangled with the vampires’ as he held him at bay, their faces inches apart. Max’s smirk was absent as they struggled, but his eyes still glimmered. Tao could feel his panting breath on his face.

He shoved the vampire off of him and threw a low kick to knock Max’s feet from beneath him. He was effectively thrown off balance, but he still held onto Tao’s arms and the two of them hit the floor. They both let out pained noises at the impact, Max groaning when the back of his head hit the opposite wall.

He glared up at the Hunter on top of him. “This space isn’t very…accommodating, is it?” he panted.

Tao narrowed his eyes with hatred. “I don’t care where we are, or how _comfortable_ ,” he spat. “As long as I kill you.”

Max smirked. “Then I suppose you won’t mind a change of scenery.”

He pushed the other down to the floor, switching their positions, and tried to extract himself from the other’s grip, but Tao refused to let go. He flipped them back around and slammed the vampire against the ground, leaning over him menacingly.

“I’m not letting you get away from me so easily,” he said in Max’s ear. “You will die by my hands.” He bared his teeth threateningly. “Tonight.”

Max’s amusement was gone. Swiftly, too fast for Tao to react properly, he brought his foot up and kicked the Hunter hard in the gut, throwing him off. Tao hit the wall hard and the vampire crouched before him and brought his face close.

“You’ve waited years,” he growled, “to face me. Obsessed over killing me. And I’ve waited.” His breath was cool against his skin. “For you to become strong enough to finally be worthy of fighting against me.”

Tao struggled to recover from the last blow, stunned and warily taking in the vampire’s words.

“I want the moment,” Max whispered, his lips grazing Tao’s ear, “to be _perfect_. Don’t you?”

He straightened up and flashed a grin before taking off at the super speed vampires were capable of.

Luckily Tao was capable of keeping up. He recovered himself and followed Max through various corridors until they both ended up outside in the open air.

There were a few trees surrounding the wide area on one side, and on the other was a drop off, revealing a view of the distant geography from hundreds of feet up.

The world was also much darker now. Tao saw Max, standing in the middle of the clearing and grinning beneath a deep red sky. The eclipse had already begun.

As if the music had started, the two immediately fell into a dance of fast-paced hand-to-hand combat. Tao was in front of the vampire before he could say one word, forcing him to quickly throw up his arms and block the kick that was aimed at him. He threw a jab, then a cross, and Max kept blocking as the Hunter advanced on him, stepping forward and forcing the vampire to step back.

They maneuvered around each other, blocking and kicking and punching and dodging. Max stopped Tao’s fist and held it between them, leaning forward.

“See?” he breathed, smirking. “This is much more fun, isn’t it?”

Tao wanted to punch that smirk off his face. He growled and shoved him away and they separated and began circling each other.

Max took a deep breath of the cold winter air.

“I wish it could last longer,” he remarked. “The build up is enjoyable, and there’s nothing more satisfying than the feeling of the final kill. But once it’s over…” He sighed wistfully.

Tao bristled as they both stepped slowly around each other. He kept his guard up as the vampire continued to talk.

“I want to savor you,” said Max. “Like I did your parents.” The vampire grinned darkly and licked his lips. “I hope you’re as delicious as they were.”

At the mention of his parents, Tao stopped his pacing and stood still. Max stopped as well. He was framed by the wide expanse of sky and the stretch of landscape beyond the cliff on the edge of the clearing. The Hunter swallowed, hoping he wouldn’t fail.

“But alas,” the vampire continued. “If I were to really allow myself to enjoy your taste, I would miss the ritual.” He brought his lips down into a mock pout. “And I would really hate to miss that. If only we had more time…”

 _Wish granted_ , Tao thought as he slowed the speed of time around them. He simultaneously lunged forward and launched himself at the vampire, who, still operating at normal speed, was too slow to react in time to save himself. From Tao’s perspective, he moved like he was swimming in molasses, as if the Hunter had ordered him to get in slow motion and he was compelled to obey.

He didn’t want him to throw him off this time. He wouldn’t give him the chance. So Tao ran both of them right over the edge of the cliff before plunging a dagger straight through the heart of the vampire who had stolen his parents and so many years of his life from him.

Max’s face contorted in pain and fury and fear before he dissolved into nothing but dust and was swept away, leaving Tao alone, freefalling through the air and ready to greet death.

His reason for living was gone now, his mind completely blank, and he wondered where all the time had gone.

 

Kai laughed as he evaded another one of Xiah’s attacks. The vampire was visibly annoyed at this point, probably because he kept teleporting whenever he came close to landing a hit on him.

“Don’t give up,” Kai taunted from behind Xiah. “You were admirably close that time.”

The vampire growled in irritation. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?”

Kai flashed in front of his opponent. “I’m pretty amused by myself, yes.” He disappeared again before Xiah could react.

“Of course,” he hissed. “You’re always so fucking amused.” He stood up straight in the middle of the hallway and stopped trying to catch the Hunter altogether. He was clearly unamused.

Kai pouted. Well, this wasn’t any fun. Tauntingly, he appeared directly in front of Xiah and swung at him, only to teleport right behind him to get him from the other side too. It was a maneuver he had used often. This time though, the vampire was predicting his movements. Before Kai could even react, Xiah forcefully pinned him to the stone wall, gripping him by the throat.

He wasn’t playing anymore. “I’m sorry for having to cut this short,” he growled. “After all, we were having so… much… fun.” He emphasized his words by tightening his grip on the Hunter’s throat.

Kai couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even teleport. He was trapped by this vampire’s paralyzing touch.

“But unfortunately,” Xiah continued, bringing his face close to his prey’s. “I’m late to my next engagement.”

Kai struggled under his captor’s grip, trying to escape, but it was no use. Xiah had every intention of strangling him right there. His vision started clouding as his body ached for oxygen, but was denied it. Well, this wasn’t exactly how he had pictured his death happening. He had always thought it would be more glorious than suffocation. At least he thought there would be more people to witness it.

Suddenly, the wall opposite them exploded into a giant heap of rubble and dust! The force threw Xiah off of Kai, and Kai fell to the ground. He raised his head at the cloud of dust and saw Kyungsoo standing there, staring down at him with that fucking smile of his.

Kai had never felt so glad to see him.

At the sight of the second Hunter, Xiah bolted down the corridor away from them.

Kyungsoo offered a hand to Kai and helped him up. “I knew you would get yourself into trouble,” he said.

Kai rubbed at his neck. “That was quite an entrance,” he stated.

Kyungsoo shrugged. “I like to go big.”

The other tilted his head thoughtfully. “Bit flashy for my taste.”

Kyungsoo could only chuckle at that.

“Well, let’s go after him,” Kai sighed, nodding in the direction Xiah went.

The two Hunters chased after the vampire until he led them to a vast and important looking room, where it seemed the main plot was happening. They could only stare in shock and terror as they realized at that moment that their worst fears had been realized.

 

You were shackled to the cold, ancient stone slab of the device, facing upward where the ceiling had opened up to reveal the wide expanse of a red sky. The battle that had been taking place in the chamber was halted, the Hunters having been outnumbered and restrained as everyone watched the cylinders rotate and the device raise up through the ceiling. You were out in the open now, exposed to the cold winter air and unreachable by those in the chamber below.

There were even more vampires outside, all waiting to witness the ritual that would keep the solar eclipse in place and allow them to roam freely on the surface without limitations.

There were also more Hunters. Your eyes immediately found the one you least wanted to face now.

His eyes were wide with horror. He was also being restrained by vampires and forced to watch the ritual. You wished he didn’t have to see you like this.

Ga In, dressed in a ceremonial robe with the hood pulled low over her face, approached the device slowly, her lips moving quickly as she recited words in a language you didn’t understand. You could see her teeth glinting from between her lips.

Slowly, as she chanted, the clan leader raised an ornate dagger above her head with both hands. She stood over you with it, her voice gradually becoming louder and louder with every word, and you looked up and saw the eclipse was almost completely in place.

Then she plunged the knife through your chest and you gasped at the immense pain.

Your blood drained from you, spilling out all over the stone slabs and filling the crevices and carvings of runes. A white light began to gather around you, and it became blindingly bright until you couldn’t see anything. It surrounded you and shot up, forming a pillar up to the sky.

Your senses were so overwhelmed. Your eyes were blinded by the intense whiteness and your ears were deafened by the screams of all those watching, both in triumph and in terror. But most of all, your body was overwhelmed by the immense pain of having a knife shoved into you. You just hoped it would end soon.

You were beginning to slip away finally as the giant beam of light stopped shining. Your eyes tried to readjust to your surroundings and you looked around. They found Chanyeol’s face, and you focused on it as you grew colder, before your vision dimmed and blurred and you lost sight of him completely.

You took one last shuddering breath and screamed out one final word before you departed from this world.

“What?!”


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains the same amount of violence and fourth-wall breaking as the last. Also deus ex machina.

It was like the world had stopped spinning.

Chanyeol couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Mary Sue strapped to the top of that device. He watched in horror as the same thought passed through his mind over and over again.

He had failed.

And now the girl he had sworn to protect was bleeding and lifeless, hanging limp against the ancient stone slabs, and battles between Hunters and vampires had already begun to spread out on the surface. But, as if he was wearing blinders, Chanyeol could only focus on Mary Sue.

He stumbled over to her before he was aware that he was moving. He didn’t dare move her from the slab, but he did cradle her head, her chestnut auburn ebony blonde hair cascading all around it.

Chanyeol felt a hand grip his shoulder. “Come on,” said Baekhyun’s gentle voice as Lay came up on the other side of Mary Sue.

“You have to heal her,” Chanyeol pled through gritted teeth.

“I can’t,” Lay said remorsefully. “I can’t bring her back to life.”

“You have to!”

“Chanyeol.”

He broke down into sobs, unable to see straight anymore. Baekhyun and Lay could only look sadly upon the scene, completely at a loss for what to do.

“Don’t cry,” he heard someone say. Ga In stepped toward them, her dark eyes locked onto Chanyeol. “It doesn’t suit you. Dry your eyes,” she said sweetly.

Chanyeol glared at her, his hatred for her suddenly tangible and thick. This was the vampire who ultimately dealt the killing blow, who performed the ritual and made the sacrifice and took Mary Sue’s life from her.

Ga In stopped her predatory pacing. “Oh, I see,” she mused, her eyes alight with realization. “This is much more than mourning lost hope.” She smiled, her teeth and eyes glimmering in the red light. “This Hunter has allowed himself to become overly attached to the Chosen One. What a dangerous affair.”

“You will pay for this,” he growled. “What she felt, you will feel a thousand times worse.”

She looked amused. “Will you be the one to do it?” she asked him. “Will you seek vengeance for your…little lamb?”

He glared at her darkly. “I won’t be satisfied until you’ve suffered the pains of Hell.”

The vampire took a step back. She was still smiling, and it made Chanyeol’s blood boil. “Best hurry,” she said. “The prophecy is already in motion. Our plans have begun. If you want to kill me,” her eyes flashed, “it’ll have to be tonight. Because after tonight, you won’t be the Hunters anymore. You and your kind will all be hunted.”

With a final twitch of her lips, she took off in the direction of a wide expanse of field, leaving the three Hunters gazing after her.

With a twinge of resolve, Chanyeol stood.

“Where are you going?” Lay demanded.

“What do you think?” Chanyeol answered, removing his talisman from around his neck. “I’m going after her.” He placed it over Mary Sue reverently.

“What, are you crazy?”

“Make sure nothing happens to her,” he ordered, and set off in the same direction Ga In had disappeared in.

The other two Hunters gaped at him in disbelief. They knew they couldn’t hold him back. He had already made up his mind and it wouldn’t be changed.

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun called.

The fire-wielder turned back to face him. Baekhyun’s expression was full of barely concealed emotions. He was trying to hide them, but Chanyeol could see right through him. He tried to give him a confident smile.

“Come back,” Baekhyun said. His jaw quivered slightly. “Alive.”

Chanyeol nodded and turned away from him. He took off sprinting toward the field, his heart pumping and adrenaline rushing, high on bloodlust and driven by vengeance. Ga In would find out just how wrathful he was.

 

Amber gazed out at the grand expanse before her, watching as vampires crawled across the surface and their comparatively meek group of Hunters fought against them. After the eclipse had happened, and the ritual had halted it in its tracks, chaos broke out all around them, and Amber knew she had to find high ground if she was going to be of any use. So she climbed to the top of a hill and kept her eyes on the look out for any vampires who looked especially threatening to her allies.

From her viewpoint, she could see most of what was happening. She had seen Chanyeol darting off toward a field to the west; to the north, a storm was rapidly forming, but she was clueless as to where it had come from; and she saw the device clearly, with Mary Sue lying atop it, a stark contrast of white and red, and Baekhyun, Lay, and Xiumin all in the fray around it, trying to fend off the vampires who could no longer resist the fragrance of the Chosen One’s blood.

She drew an arrow back in her bow and followed a particular vampire with it, tense and still, her breath manifesting in fog before her face. The second she saw it lunge toward Xiumin, she let the arrow fly, and it struck the vampire in the heart. The vampire turned to dust, and Xiumin noticed her and gave her a nod of gratitude.

She continued like this, focusing on those vampires who were clambering toward Mary Sue. She wouldn’t let them devour her friend’s body. She wouldn’t allow them the pleasure.

“Well,” cooed a dark voice behind her. She felt a shiver run down her spine, and she knew it wasn’t from the winter air. “What have we here?”

She slowly turned herself and met the gaze of one vampire she recognized too well. “Se7en,” she whispered, his name becoming a tangible fog as she uttered it.

“You remember me,” he sighed. “I’m so glad, my lovely flower.” He grinned, and his expression appeared oddly genuine, but Amber only felt chills from it. “Because I just couldn’t forget you,” he growled.

In one quick motion, Amber shot an arrow at the predator, but he evaded it completely. He was immediately in front of her in the next moment. Se7en tore the bow from her grasp and threw it away in the snow.

“You have no idea how happy I am,” he lulled, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. “That there is nothing in the way of me enjoying your sweet nectar, my beautiful flower.”

Amber’s breath hitched, and she suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable. In a last ditch effort, she whipped a blade from some hidden sheath somewhere and attacked the vampire. He drew back in response, suddenly looking very displeased.

“This isn’t how a lady should be acting, now is it?” he scorned.

Amber scoffed at him. “I’m no lady,” she retorted.

His expression darkened. “Very well then,” he growled. “I won’t hold back.”

Amber readied her stance, as the vampire prepared himself to pounce. Her heart was thundering out of her chest, but she wasn’t about to just give herself up. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

 

Kris felt nothing but the rush of freezing air past his face as he plunged downward. He hadn’t been thinking at all when he’d done it. All he knew at that moment was watching as Tao tumbled over the edge in the arms of that vampire, and without hesitation, Kris dove after him. He didn’t have any plans, his mind was completely blank except for one thing: he needed to get to Tao.

Tao was within his reach now, and Kris willed himself to fall faster. He reached his hands out and grasped the other Hunter’s shirt, pulling their bodies together. As soon as he had a grip on the other, Kris zoomed toward the horizon, and suddenly he realized they weren’t hurdling to the ground any more. Instead, they were travelling parallel to it.

Regaining his composure—or about as much of it as he could at the moment, because he pretty much almost died—Kris eased them upward again and hovered above the edge of the drop-off they had just fallen from.

Tao had his arms wrapped around Kris’s neck, and he was staring incredulously into the face of the other, as if he was still trying to wrap his mind around what just happened.

“You,” he breathed. “You’re flying.”

Kris gazed at Tao’s shocked expression. “Yeah,” he laughed nervously, still trying to grasp the situation himself.

“I can’t believe…” Tao fumbled for words.

“Me either,” Kris replied. “I’m just as surprised as you are right now.”

He watched Tao’s expression change, as he slowly comprehended the meaning of that statement. “What? You mean you didn’t know when you jumped off the cliff?!” Tao yelled. “What was your plan? To die in each other’s arms? You could have gone and helped the others! You shouldn’t have—“

Kris only tightened his arms around the other’s waist, quelling the yelling. Tao blinked away, averting his gaze suddenly, but unable to escape Kris’s grasp on him, because they were still floating in midair. Realizing this, Kris lowered them to the ground.

He cleared his throat and stepped back from the time controller. “You’re right, we should…” He pointed a thumb in the other direction. “We should go help.”

The two Hunters ran to join the fray.

 

Dark clouds churned above them, crackling with electricity, and freezing wind and rain whipped around them as Sehun, Suho and Chen threw everything they had at the six vampires they were fighting. They were all soaked and panting, but they fought on. Even if it meant pushing themselves until they dropped from the exhaustion, they wouldn’t stop until every vampire was dead. They weren’t about the let the vampire apocalypse actually threaten their precious world.

Suho lashed a sharp whip of water that struck Rain clear across the face, forcing his head to turn. He slowly faced the Hunter, snarling angrily.

“What’s wrong, Rain?” Suho taunted. “I thought this was your element. You don’t mind getting a little wet, do you?”

The vampire merely growled in response and lunged for him, and the two rolled around grappling on the ground. Suho kicked Rain off of him and recovered, sending another wave of water at another of Rain’s allies as he rushed toward him.

Sehun was alternating between shooting slicing gusts of wind and hand-to-hand combat, trying to dodge the blows and keep enough distance from the enemies to keep a handle on the storm. His attention was divided between ranges as he attempted to keep alert enough to fend off the vampires who attacked while remaining aware of Chen and Suho.

It was quite taxing on his abilities, and he was momentarily jarred from this when he found himself slammed and pinned against the rough, damp base of a tall tree.

He only struggled against the vampire for a moment before shoving him off, his attention now focused on the single foe. He would go back to controlling the storm once he had finished off this one.

“Woah there, Sparky,” mocked one vampire as Chen’s crackling bolt of lightning barely missed him. “A little over eager there, aren’t we?”

Chen gritted his teeth and directed another stream of electricity. “Why wouldn’t I be eager to kill you?” he spat.

“Come on,” the vampire retorted. “Why do we have to kill each other? We could be great together. I could be the Thunder to your lightning!” He grinned as if he’d said something humorous and clever. “We would make a great team.”

“Sorry,” Chen remarked, “but I don’t team up with vampires.” His bolt of lighting struck the tree just behind his opponent, and a loud cracking sound echoed throughout the area.

The vampire was quick enough to clear the area as the massive tree fell. But then Chen noticed Sehun, engaged with another vampire and unaware of the immediate danger he was in standing in the growing shadow of the tumbling trunk.

“Sehun!” he cried, trying to warn the young Hunter, but he was too distracted by his entanglement. He watched as Sehun, straddling the vampire on the ground, stabbed his adversary through the heart, and suddenly he was straddling nothing but a pile of dust.

“Sehun!” Chen cried again, and this time Sehun heard him, but there wasn’t enough time for him to react to the tree that was now upon him, falling too rapidly for him to move out of the way.

Chen cringed, looking away from the scene, not wanting to witness what he knew was about to happen.

Sehun held his breath as he waited for the impact, but it never came. He tentatively opened his eyes, not knowing what to expect, but he wasn’t expecting this.

The tree hovered right above him. It had never landed. He didn’t know what could possibly have stopped it until he averted his gaze and saw an incredible sight just on the edge of their artificial storm.

Luhan stood there with his arms raised and his eyes wide, an expression of a deer caught in headlights. He nodded at Sehun, who rolled out from beneath the tree trunk so Luhan could let it fall. Chen looked extremely relieved and Suho was just as surprised and pleased as Sehun. They all shared a smile, but there was no time for pleasantries, and they fell back into fighting stances to face the remaining vampires.

 

Jonghyun glared at the vampire in front of him as hard as he could. “Did you come back to finish me off?” he spat. Key gave him a weird sidelong glance, which he ignored.

An amused and dark chuckle rumbled from TOP. “I’d hate to see your blood go to waste,” he said through a grin. His eyes alighted on Key then, and Jonghyun tensed at the gesture. “Who’s your friend?” he questioned.

His tone was oddly conversational, but Jonghyun wasn’t about to let his guard down. His guard was so up, it was about to burst.

Jonghyun had no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean. He was still kind of fuzzy, and these narrations were making less and less sense to him.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Key said. “But could we please move this along?”

TOP’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Eager, are we?” He ran his tongue along his lower lip.

“I’m a bit pressed for time,” Key hissed. “And I could do without the unnecessary banter.”

“Very well,” TOP purred. He raised his eyebrows. “We’ll make it quick.” He tilted his neck, and Jonghyun could hear it crack.

A wave of dizziness suddenly overcame Jonghyun, and he felt like he was falling as the world spun around him. Everything blurred, and he fell forever. He caught a glimpse of TOP staring wide-eyed before he bolted away. He heard Key’s voice, frantic and laced with worry.

“Jonghyun… You’ve been bitten!”

The words echoed in his mind and swirled around in his vision with everything else. He was hot, blazing hot. His mouth was full of sand. He heard a violent shrieking, and it occurred to him that he was the one screaming. And pain. Pain jolted through his veins. Nothing else existed anymore.

 

Tao figured they had found the plot when they came across the chaotic scene full of battles, vampires and Hunters all attacking each other. He and Kris made their way to the area where vampires were literally swarming, thinking that would be a good place to be if they wanted to help as much as they could.

They made quick work of the swarm, Tao darting among bodies and stabbing them through their chests before they could even react and Kris doing the same, until they reached the center of it all, where Lay and Baekhyun and Xiu Min were fighting to keep the vampires away from—

Tao’s heart caught in his throat. Mary Sue was dead on the stone and the Hunters were all trying to keep the vampires from finishing her off. He rushed toward them, kneeling beside Lay, whose attention was still mostly focused on Mary Sue.

“Can you heal her?” he demanded, hoping beyond hope that all hope wasn’t lost.

Lay solemnly shook his head. “I can’t bring the dead back to life,” he said.

Tao’s heart sank.

“We could’ve prevented this,” he said bitterly.

“We can’t think like that,” Lay argued. “It isn’t worth it and it won’t help anything.”

“But we could have _stopped_ it,” Tao snapped.

“What do you want me to say?” the healer demanded. “It’s not like we can just turn back time.”

Tao’s eyes widened. _Turn back time._

“Move,” he ordered, pushing Lay away from Mary Sue and the device and stepping back from it himself.

“Tao, what’re you…?”

He focused his dark eyes intently on the large stone edifice, concentrating as hard as he could. “This isn’t over yet,” he growled.

For a moment, it seemed as though nothing was happening. But then the blood that had trickled down the slabs and into the runes began to flow upward. Lay’s eyes widened in awe and shock as everything immediately surrounding the device and Mary Sue started to return to the state it was previously in, the large pillar of light reversing the effect of the ritual on the eclipse and the slabs rotating in the opposite direction and the life flowing back into Mary Sue.

Nobody could believe it when they saw it. Mary Sue was coming back to life.

 

Chanyeol chased after the clan leader, fury and adrenaline streaming through his veins. His eyes were locked on the vampire, and he wasn’t letting her out of his sight. She didn’t seem to want him to lose her, though. He heard her eerily musical laughter ring out across the open sky above them. The eclipse hung overhead, reminding Chanyeol why he was doing this.

Ga In reached the center of the field and stopped running. She turned to face Chanyeol, a sadistic grin spread across her face. He halted a few yards from her. The golden prairie grass swayed around their waists, tinted red by the bloody expanse of the sky.

“You have lost, Hunter,” she sang. “Your hope is lost now. Your precious lamb is dead, and there isn’t a thing you can do now.”

Chanyeol clenched his jaw, his fists, anything that could clench, he clenched it. “That’s not true,” he said. “At least I can avenge her death.”

Ga In threw her head back in laughter. “You believe you can kill me?” She eyed him and tilted her head. “Where’s your talisman, darling?”

He bared his teeth at the vampire. “I don’t need it to defeat you,” he spat. “You will die in holy fire, and burn in Hell for eternity.”

“Fire,” she echoed. “Do you expect the sun to come back out and burn me?” She laughed again. “The sun won’t be back out for a long time, my love.”

Chanyeol let a grin emerge on his face. “I won’t be needing the sun,” he informed.

Ga In’s eyebrows rose, as if she was asking, “Oh?”

Then, Chanyeol sent two streams of flame from his hands in either direction and encircled the two of them in a ring of fire. He watched the vampire’s expression become shocked, then distressed, then furious.

He smirked at her. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Can’t take the heat?”

Ga In shrieked angrily and lunged for Chanyeol. He barely had any time to react before she was on him. He fell hard on the ground, and she held him down, baring her teeth menacingly. He struggled beneath her, but she was incredibly strong. Stronger than any vampire he had ever faced before. He was unable to prevent her hands from creeping up to his throat and clamping down.

“I would have simply drank your blood,” she hissed at him. “Your death would have been quick and painless. Even pleasurable.” She lowered her face down to his ear so that he could hear every word. “But now, Hunter, you have awoken my wrath. I won’t let you escape this prison you’ve created around us,” she growled. “You are going to feel every slow and painful second of this.”

She squeezed her porcelain hands tightly around his throat, cutting off his breath. He was fading quickly. The heat from the fire surrounded them, oppressing them, and Ga In watched the light slowly leave his eyes. The last thing Chanyeol heard before he died was Mary Sue’s voice screaming his name. He smiled. She must be waiting in Heaven for him.

 

As soon as you awoke, you took a gasping breath of air and your eyes shot open. A few of the Hunters surrounded you, all of their eyes wide as they stared. You could only pant as you stared back at them.

You sat up quickly, noticing when something fell onto your lap. It was Chanyeol’s Phoenix Talisman. You tried to make sense of everything that was happening.

Then it all came rushing back to you. Jonghyun’s kidnapping, the ritual, the eclipse, dying. And Chanyeol’s face was the last thing you saw.

You glanced around. He wasn’t there.

“Where’s Chanyeol?” you demanded.

The Hunters seemed to be startled by your voice. None of them answered.

“Where is he?” you demanded.

Baekhyun stepped forward and you looked to him for answers. “He went after Ga In,” he said softly. “To avenge you.”

Your eyes widened and you immediately jumped down from the stone slabs, no longer stuck in the restraints. You clutched the talisman. You could still feel Chanyeol’s energy in it, and you sprinted off before any of the Hunters could stop you, following its pull to a wide open field.

The entire world looked like it was on fire. The sky was red and the dry field was ablaze, vampires crawling across the surface, no longer under the threat of being destroyed by the sun, and you thought surely this was what Hell must be like.

Your heart pounded and you panted as you raced to reach Chanyeol in time, but when you came upon the edge of the field, you could do nothing but stand there, unable to pass the wall of flame.

A high-pitched scream stopped you dead in your tracks. You were certain it had come from Ga In, and it sounded like a shriek of immense pain and fury. She was probably being burned to death by Chanyeol’s fire right now.

You were scared for him. Now that you were closer, you could certainly feel his presence through the Phoenix Talisman, but it was beginning to fade, pulsating before it was too faint for you to recognize it anymore.

You gasped in fear. “Chanyeol!” you screamed, hoping he would hear you and answer your call and know you were alive, so he would try to live as well. You needed him to try to survive.

But you couldn’t feel him anymore. His presence was gone, out of your reach, and the hellfire in front of you began to spread rapidly, growing taller and more powerful as the only person who had been controlling it slipped away, leaving it to its own devices.

You knelt to the ground, sobbing, as the world was illuminated around you.

 

Amber didn’t notice it until it had already begun to take effect. The sky was lightening from a deep red to its seasonal grey, tinged with pink and gold.

She had taken quite a beating from her struggle with Se7en, but she still had managed to keep his fangs away from her. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

She had just been cornered too. He was on top of her, and she was pinned to the snowy ground fighting to get free, when the world was illuminated and the smell of ashes started infiltrating her nostrils. Se7en’s eyes were wide with fear as he realized what was happening, and Amber could only gape at the sight as every exposed bit of his skin became grey and ashy, ribbons of smoke rising up into the air.

She watched, slightly horrified, as the vampire was reduced to a screaming pile of ashes that were blown away on the wind.

Amber breathed out a sigh of relief from the breath she had been holding and tried to slow her heart rate. She turned over in the snow to look out over the landscape from her high vantage point on the hill.

There were similar scenes taking place, scattered piles of ashes being swept around and smudging the snow, as vampires fell victim to the sun’s rays and Hunters stopped fighting them to witness the phenomena.

The storm in the clearing had calmed quickly, the clouds now dissipating, but Amber noticed another giant dark cloud of smoke had begun encroaching on the area.

There was a field on fire, and people had started to gather on the edge of it. She stood and started making her way down the hill to join them. There was probably something important happening.

 

You stood at the edge of the burning field, clutching the Phoenix Talisman in your hand and sobbing hysterically. The Hunters had begun gathering around you, all gazing at the field, the warmth of the flames brushing their faces. Lay stood beside you and hugged an arm around your shoulders.

“Y-you have to bring him back,” you pleaded between sobs. “Please!”

He could only look at you somberly, pain and regret and empathy etched all over his features. “I can’t,” he sighed. “I wish I could, but… I can’t bring back the dead.”

You turned your face back to the ground, unable to quell your frantic sobs. Lay took his arm from your shoulders, knowing that nothing he could possibly do would offer you any comfort.

Then the Hunters started chanting. It was a strange Gregorian-sounding chant that you didn’t understand. It grew in volume, and you brought your head up to watch as they all lifted their faces to the sun and crossed their hands over their chests. It was strange and unfamiliar to you, but you somehow felt that this gesture was something that uniquely belonged to the Hunters. It was a show of reverence. Of respect to a fallen brother.

When they finished the chant, Kai dropped to his knees. Lay and Luhan immediately followed suit, and you watched as gradually the rest of the Hunters matched the action until every one of them was kneeling, raising one hand splayed to the sky.

Deeply moved, you fell to your own knees in the snow. There was a stark contrast between the frozen ground beneath you and the warmth radiating from Chanyeol’s field fire. One last tear rolled down your cheek and landed upon the Phoenix Talisman in your hand.

You didn’t see the shimmer of light shine across the talisman.

But the next moment, you did feel something. It was faint, but it was surely there. Like the shadow of a heartbeat. You felt it grow stronger. Instinctively, you turned your head toward the blazing field. The others noticed your sudden change in disposition and gazed in that direction as well.

The feeling was so strong now, you felt almost overwhelmed by it. Everybody stared in anticipation at the wall of fire. And finally, the impossible happened.

Chanyeol emerged triumphantly from the wall of fire, alive and completely unscathed. His bewildered expression landed on you, and you couldn’t contain yourself any longer. The two of you ran to each other and embraced tightly. You looked into each other’s eyes, both unable to stop the tears from falling, nor the smiles from gracing your features. Neither of you spoke, because there was no need. You both knew what had happened.

It was a miracle.

 

Jonghyun opened his eyes. The room around him was hazy with grey light. He sat up in the bed he was lying in and looked around him. It was unfamiliar, but comfortable and warm. He turned on a bedside lamp. The yellow light illuminated Key, who was curled up in an armchair. He stirred awake, squinting his eyes at the sudden brightness, and noticed Jonghyun.

He smiled. “You’re awake,” he said groggily.

“What day is it?” Jonghyun asked softly.

Key looked at the clock by the lamp, and Jonghyun did too. It was a little after seven in the morning.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” Key answered.

So Jonghyun had been sleeping for more than a day, then. He wondered what could have happened since then. “Is everyone okay?” he asked.

Key nodded. “Everybody’s fine.”

Jonghyun hesitated. “Am I… okay?”

Key only smiled, and without speaking, took Jonghyun by the hand and led him out of the room. They climbed a long flight of spirally stairs, and it wasn’t until they reached the top when Jonghyun finally realized where they were. They emerged in the bell tower of the Hunters’ church. Key led him around to the east side of the huge brass bell and stopped, gazing out at the expanse before them.

Jonghyun waited, unsure of what he was supposed to be looking at. The sky slowly became pink then, and a few rays of golden light burst dramatically through the trees.

Sunrise.

To Jonghyun’s relief, he wasn’t bursting into flame either, nor did his skin turn to ash. He only felt warmth. He felt so alive. He turned to look at Key then, and Jonghyun felt like this couldn’t possibly be any more perfect.

Then it started snowing. A light dust of pure white, cascading down and falling upon everything like tiny diamonds.

 _It’s snowing because the world knows I love you,_ he thought. It didn’t actually make any sense, but Jonghyun’s mind was still a little fuzzy from before.

Key looked at him strangely then. “Huh?”

…

Did Jonghyun say that out loud? That’s embarrassing. He tried to brush it off like it was nothing, like maybe Key had heard wrong or something, so to diffuse the situation, he just looked at Key with an innocent expression.

“What?”


	28. Chapter 28

The atmosphere was warm and fuzzy as you observed the cheery band of vampire Hunters, all imbued with the spirit of Christmas, decorating the halls of the hideout and making every Christmas tradition come true. It was the first time they all were celebrating Christmas since joining the ranks against the undead, so they were all smiling and doing their best to make it the best holiday ever.

They were all doing their part, decorating the tree or hanging up mistletoe (the only tradition Kai had insisted on). Baekhyun had baked holiday cookies, and the sugary smell fragranced the air, which was slowly becoming occupied also by the smell of the dinner Kyungsoo was currently making. Xiu Min was currently bothering him in the kitchen under the pretense of “helping,” trying to steal a taste of the main course before it was served. A classical CD of traditional Christmas songs was playing, completing the scene.

You took a sip of your hot cider and bounded over to Chanyeol, who was hanging garlands and greenery on walls near the ceiling, transforming the starkness of the place into a festive home.

“Merry Christmas!” you said to him cheerfully.

He turned to you and smiled the biggest smile you had ever seen, and it dazzled you.

“Merry Christmas, Mary Sue!” he replied a little louder than was normal. You giggled at how excited he was.

Then, as you stared at him, your face fell a little and you bit your lip. There was still a lot that was left unsaid between the two of you. Your mind went back to the night of his birthday, when he had kissed you and then pushed you away.

He noticed the change in your expression, and he shifted awkwardly, probably having understood. He hadn’t talked to you about that night since it happened, and your adventure the same night, as well as the night of the eclipse, kind of pushed discussions of your feelings out of the way. But now that that was all over, your thoughts on all of that resurfaced.

Chanyeol cleared his throat. “I have something for you,” he said, pulling a small package from his pants.

You looked at it before taking it from his hands and holding it in your own. “What is it?” you asked.

He chuckled. “Open it and see.”

You complied, and opened the gift to find the Phoenix Talisman Chanyeol had given to you the first night you met. You held it up, smiling.

“You can keep it for good now,” he said to you. “Not that you’ll need it anymore.” He grinned. “You don’t need anyone to protect you now.”

Your eyes widened and you stared up at him. Did this mean he was leaving you? That he didn’t want to be around you anymore, and he was giving you his talisman as a keepsake to remember him by while he went off on some new grand adventure and found himself a different girl or something or other—your mind was working too fast for it to be comprehensible anymore and you could only look at him with a panicked expression on your face.

You suddenly regretted never talking to him about whatever it was the two of you had. Maybe it wasn’t too late! Maybe you could still talk to him. Maybe you could convince him to stay—

You didn’t need to convince him. His lips were on yours before you could comprehend what was happening, and suddenly your entire mind was blank and you knew nothing but this. The room disappeared—or maybe you just closed your eyes—and you forgot what you were even thinking about seconds ago. The world was nothing but the small patch of ground beneath your feet, and the only people occupying this world were you and Chanyeol. When you stepped closer together, wrapping your arms around each other, the world even shrank a little. You felt so elated, smiling as you moved your lips against his soft ones, and you didn’t care if your chest was about to explode. Nothing could make this moment any better.

 

Well, Tao felt really awkward now. He and Kris were decorating the tree, and Chanyeol was hanging garlands, until he started making out with Mary Sue in the corner, like there weren’t any other people in the room. Or the world.

He and Kris shared an awkward glance, and Kris tried to clear his throat a few times, hoping the two lovebirds over there would get the hint. But it clearly wasn’t working.

So Tao just rolled his eyes and tried to avoid looking at them altogether. He reached to place another shiny bauble on the tree, and Kris’s hand brushed over his with a string of tinsel. Tao felt heat rush to his face. He was avoiding looking at all sorts of places right now.

He and Kris hadn’t talked at all about what had happened the day of the eclipse. It had sort of been an unspoken agreement to not tell the others about Tao’s suicidal dive off of the drop off. Or Kris’s equally suicidal dive after Tao. It was a delicate topic.

Just then, Kai burst into the room. “Ugh, gross! Get a room, you two!”

Relieved at having something else to direct his attention towards, Tao looked over to see Chanyeol and Mary Sue embarrassedly separating themselves.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol muttered, his face having turned completely red.

Hm. Even though they stopped, Tao still felt awkward. He wasn’t really sure how to act at the moment. They had never celebrated Christmas before, or any holiday for that matter, and it had been over ten years since Tao did anything of the sort. It was supposed to be a joyful occasion. But he wasn’t sure how to be happy anymore. It was something he wasn’t used to.

The night after the eclipse was the first time he didn’t dream about exacting his revenge. He dreamt of his parents though. But for once, it wasn’t just a replay of the night Max killed them. It was a different memory. One that he had forgotten.

He was so young, maybe seven years old. And they were outside, walking beneath the shade of the freshly bloomed tree branches. It must have been springtime, because the branches and the ground were littered with pale pink and white petals. There was a light breeze, and the sun was bright, and the sky was so clear. And his mother was humming. Such a simple memory. Yet it filled Tao with such peace.

He had woken up that morning, and he realized he had no reason to train anymore. No reason to fight. There was a strange emptiness in his life suddenly. What do you do when you’ve accomplished the one thing you’ve devoted your entire being preparing for? What was Tao supposed to do with himself now? Was his life meaningless now?

He heard Kris clear his throat, bringing him out of his reverie. Kris was looking at him, his eyebrows drawn together a little, and he realized how he must have looked just standing there and staring off into space. Kris kept his gaze on Tao as he draped another length of tinsel—as if this tree wasn’t shiny enough as it was—and spoke.

“Don’t you feel…free?” He tried to smile, but it seemed a little unnatural on him, and he stopped.

Tao blinked at him. “Free?” he wondered softly aloud.

The other man finally broke the tense eye contact. “Yeah,” he muttered to the ground, reaching into the box of ornaments. “You don’t have the pressure of revenge weighing down on you anymore. It’s not taking over your life now. You can relax a bit, and, you know.” He looked back up at Tao and cracked a much more genuine, crooked smile. “Live a little.”

Tao felt his own lips drawing up into a smile. Kris was right—suddenly he could see a clear horizon. He was free. Free to do whatever he wanted. And with anyone he wanted.

Kris tossed him an ornament, and he caught it deftly, his cheeks a little more colored than before. It was two white birds—turtle doves maybe? Tao remembered turtle doves having something to do with Christmas. Their wings were spread wide, and they were attached to each other, flying together forever. He snickered a little at it and reached up to hang it where it would be visible.

“Merry Christmas,” he murmured softly as he gazed up at it. Kris grinned at him as he untangled yet another mass of tinsel.

 

It was snowing lightly and a few shops were miraculously still open. For those extreme last-minute shoppers, Sehun guessed. Which was pretty much what they were right now. Last-minute Christmas shoppers, buying gifts for all the others who were celebrating together in the warmth of their church residence.

Sehun smiled to himself, much happier to be out in this peaceful setting with Luhan, even if it was cold. It was nice.

They were already laden with several bags full of items, and Sehun wondered how much they could even afford.

“How much money do we have left?” he asked, just to be sure.

“I brought more than enough, so you don’t have to worry,” Luhan replied shortly.

“Really?” Sehun said. “Have you been saving up or something?”

The other smiled. “I had a good amount with me when I joined the Hunters.”

Sehun gaped at him. “And it hasn’t run out yet? How did you have so much? Don’t lie to me,” he insisted. “You were a bank robber, weren’t you?”

Luhan laughed. “No.”

“Ah, drugs then.”

“I never dealt drugs—“

“Don’t tell me you were an escort!” He looked over at Luhan, scanning him. “You’re certainly pretty enough to charge—“

“Oh Sehun, what kind of person do you take me for?!” he snapped. He was still smiling though, and Sehun almost believed the story with the effect it had on him.

After a pause, Luhan explained, “My family was really wealthy. I had enough saved to live on. So I emptied my bank account before I joined the Hunters.”

Sehun mulled over the explanation. “What’s it like being really wealthy?” he wondered aloud.

The other smiled. “Big house. Private lessons. Servants tending to you constantly. Meals made by a top chef.”

“Why would you want to leave all that behind?”

Luhan grimaced. “It’s lonely. For anyone. But me especially.” He sighed, his breath condensing in front of him. “I discovered my power when I was just a kid. And I thought I was special at first, but my parents tried to smother it. Like it was wrong. They couldn’t let anyone know their son was…different.”

Sehun watched Luhan as he spoke, and Luhan stared straight ahead of him as he recalled his past.

“It was stifling,” he continued. “Trying to maintain self control of something like that. And then one day I just had this urge to get away. I felt like I belonged somewhere else, like I was needed.” He smiled slightly. “I withdrew all my savings and just left. Travelled until one night I had an encounter in the street. I thought it was a mugger at first, but it was a vampire. I would’ve died if it wasn’t for Suho.” He smirked at the memory and faced Sehun, who was still watching and listening in a daze. “I joined the Hunters when I was seventeen.”

Sehun blew his breath out his cheeks. “Wow,” he mused. “That’s, um…hard.”

Luhan just laughed before he dragged Sehun into a bookshop to their left. The glow of the yellow light pouring out from the windows was warm and inviting, and the warmth washed over them as they entered.

Sehun was lazily browsing titles, generally bored by the idea of buying books for everyone when they had shelves upon shelves of them at home. He never really cared much for them.

His eyes fell upon a title that he couldn’t read at all. It was in a different language. Which reminded him of something.

“Luhan?” he called out.

“Yeah?” he answered from the next aisle over.

Sehun stepped over to talk through the shelf separating them. “What does _mi amice te amo_ mean?”

He caught Luhan’s smile through the gaps between the books. It still had the same effect on him. Without looking up from his browsing, he replied, “’I love you, my friend.’”

Sehun grinned, the warmth of the bookshop reaching his face. He liked that meaning. It still sounded like music when Luhan said it.

 

Outside was cold, but the air was still, and so was the perfectly smooth blanket of snow. Well, it was perfectly smooth before Jonghyun and Key destroyed it with their snowball fight. Jonghyun scooped up another handful of snow, packed it, and threw it in Key’s direction. A second later, he took a snowball to the face. The sudden shock of cold was enough to make him stumble backwards and fall down in the snow.

Key’s laughter split the air.

Jonghyun didn’t move to get up. Instead he just closed his eyes and lay there, letting the cold seep slowly through his clothes and the brightness of winter seep through his eyelids. He heard soft footsteps approach and stop near him.

“What are you doing?” Key asked.

Without answering or opening his eyes, Jonghyun started moving his arms and legs in the shape of a snow angel. Laughter filled the air again, and Jonghyun was unable to contain his smile. He heard the sound of Key dropping into the snow beside him, and the scraping sound of wool and denim against snow.

Finally opening his eyes, Jonghyun looked over at his boyfriend lying in the snow next to him. They hadn’t actually discussed their relationship, but Jonghyun supposed that was what they were. That’s how they acted anyway. Without any pretense, he crawled over to Key, who propped himself on his elbows, and kissed him softly. Jonghyun decided he liked kissing Key, and he wondered why he didn’t start doing it earlier.

He broke away with a contented sigh. Then they stood up, the cold of the snow finally becoming a nuisance to them. Jonghyun just stared at Key. He wondered when this—their friendship, relationship, whatever ship it was—had become so easy. Maybe when he was finally honest about his feelings. Jonghyun smiled, remembering what Donghae had said to him.

“What are you thinking about?” Key asked, noticing his thoughtful expression.

Again without words, Jonghyun wrapped his arms around Key’s waist and hugged him close, then buried his face in his neck and just breathed in.

“You haven’t developed a penchant for blood, have you?” he asked, partly in humor, but just slightly out of seriousness.

“No,” Jonghyun mumbled into his neck. “I just wanted to be close to you.”

At this, Key hugged him tightly back, and they stood like that for a while, before both agreeing that it was getting too cold, and they should probably go inside now.

 

“Ho, ho, ho!”

Everyone looked over to see Suho entering the room with a huge bag slung over his shoulder, Luhan and Sehun trailing behind him, smirking and laughing at the antics. He wasn’t even dressed as Santa; he just had insisted on carrying all of the gifts they had bought in the bag and bringing it to everyone.

Now that they were all gathered together in one room, they decided to open them. None of them were specifically marked for anyone, so they just accepted whatever they got. Which was fine, since most of the gifts were ordinary things like sweaters and books. The only random one was when Kai unwrapped a stuffed baby reindeer and held it up confusedly with one eyebrow raised, before Sehun snatched it away and presented it to Luhan, saying it was for him. Luhan accepted it gratefully and held onto it for the majority of the night.

Dinner was delicious and left everyone stuffed to their limits, and afterward they all gathered again in the main room to talk or cuddle or doze off, whatever each preferred. It was warm and relaxing and everybody was content.

Kyungsoo smiled to himself as he observed the scene from his place in the doorway. Everyone was happy and there was so much love in this room (of varying kinds), and he thought no one could be having such a great Christmas as they were.

A sudden flash of smoke in his peripheral drew his attention to Kai, who was now standing beside him in the doorway with an eyebrow raised suggestively and a characteristic smirk. Kyungsoo eyed him suspiciously.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked warily.

Kai only responded by directing his gaze upwards. Kyungsoo followed his line of sight. Oh.

“Mistletoe,” he muttered. He looked back at Kai, who was now biting his lip and letting his eyes travel up and down Kyungsoo.

“Ah! You guys are caught under the mistletoe,” Chen shouted merrily at them, drawing everybody else’s attention.

Kyungsoo felt his face turn completely red, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the sudden attention, or from Kai looking at him like that. Or both maybe.

“Now you have to kiss,” Suho laughed.

Kyungsoo stared wide-eyed at everybody staring at them, waiting for them to kiss, at Kai, who wasn’t helping the situation any by making strangely erotic faces at him—and really, this was all Kai’s fault, he had probably done it on purpose, and he wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about that—and then back at everyone else, who were still looking at him expectantly.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make the yuletide gay.


	29. Chapter 29

Winter break was over now and it was your first day of school for the new semester. It felt kind of weird, suddenly going back to such a normal setting after being caught up in a vampire plot, but you welcomed the change a little. It was really hard being the Chosen One. You were ready to just be Mary Sue again.

You skipped downstairs for breakfast to find your parents already at the table. They greeted you somewhat coldly (they still weren’t happy about the whole broken arranged marriage thing, and it would take them a while to get over it). You shrugged it off and sat down to munch on some celery sticks.

When your brother joined the table not much later, you noticed he seemed to be quite happy to be returning to school. He had been in an especially good mood lately. You figured that you both were, since you had managed to evade an apocalypse after all.

As soon as he sat down, your father cleared his throat, grabbing your and Jonghyun’s attention. He seemed slightly hesitant and more than a little stern regarding what he was about to say.

“Kids, your mother and I have been noticing some changes in behavior lately,” he said.

You couldn’t imagine what he was even talking about. You looked to Jonghyun, who actually appeared panicked for a moment.

“What do you mean?” you asked, turning back to your parents.

Your father heaved a deep, authoritative sigh. “Did you think we wouldn’t notice all those times you snuck out at night?”

Oh. You hadn’t even thought about your parents noticing that when you did it. They hadn’t really been a dominating presence in your life since the original marriage plot. Was it weird that you had almost forgotten about them? How naïve of you. They didn’t just disappear from the story. Were you expecting them to? You silly, silly person.

“What were you doing?” your mother cut in.

You and Jonghyun shared a look. There was no way you could tell your parents about all the time you had spent with vampire Hunters preparing for (and fighting against) a vampire apocalypse. They would think you’re crazy, and it would only make them worry more.

“We can’t tell you,” Jonghyun answered sheepishly.

This only seemed to make your mother more concerned. “Don’t tell me,” she said, putting a hand to her mouth. “Have you been dealing drugs in alleyways at night?”

“No!” you argued. “Of course not.”

“Why can’t you tell us what you were doing sneaking out at night?” your father demanded.

You and Jonghyun could only return his stern expression with sheepish ones.

He sighed. “Your mother and I are very concerned about the two of you,” he continued. “So until you either come clean about your whereabouts or earn our trust back on good behavior,” he regarded you and your brother seriously. “There will be a curfew in place.”

“What?” you protested.

“You’re not allowed out later than ten every night,” he said.

“But—we haven’t been—“

“Why don’t you trust us?” Jonghyun argued.

Your mother turned to him. “It isn’t just the sneaking out,” she explained, clearly upset. “You’ve been acting strange lately. I saw you,” she accused. “In your sister’s room. With the wig.” She couldn’t seem to say anymore, as she had dissolved into hiccupped sobbing.

Your father put an arm around her to comfort her, then turned to your brother, partly accusing partly concerned expression on his face. “Son, you would tell us if you were a transvestite, wouldn’t you?”

You and Jonghyun could only stare, mouths agape in shock.

 

The morning had started off strangely, and it wasn’t getting any less so when you both arrived at school, Jonghyun in somewhat of a daze, still reeling from the talk your parents had given you.

The first strange thing you noticed was when Key came up to greet you and Jonghyun. He seemed to be in an unusually cheery mood this morning, which was so unlike him. You had always known Key to be rather grumpy and standoffish in the mornings, and not much better any other time of day. But today he acted like he might go spreading joy by delivering happiness baskets to the underprivileged.

…Well maybe not quite that happy, you thought as Key threw a death glare at a freshman who knocked into him in the crowded traffic of the hallway. But compared to his usual demeanor, the description was accurate.

He strode up to you and Jonghyun. “Hey sexy,” he winked.

_crack crack crack crack_

“Hi,” you greeted back smiling.

He smiled back. Which was weird. He never really smiled at you before, more like grimaced, as if it caused him physical pain to smile.

Key leaned in close to your brother like he had a secret to tell. You didn’t catch much, other than, “Tonight…you know…”

_crack crack crack crack_

Jonghyun started explaining the whole situation with the curfew your parents just put in place, and you separated yourself from them to get to your locker.

You rounded a corner and collided with a chiseled and muscular body that was attached to an attractive face with short dark hair. You looked up into the face of Himchan, who was staring a little bewilderedly back at you.

He had changed his hair. It kind of threw you off a little.

Well, things were getting awkward fast as you two just stood there, staring. Nothing had transpired between you since Homecoming, and that was months ago. Would he still be angry at you for what happened? Would he shove past you without saying a word and continue to ignore you? Would he insult you or glare at you until your own resolve dissolved in the silence?

Actually, Himchan was the first the break the silence and the tension.

“Hi, Mary Sue,” he greeted you as if it was normal. “How was your vacation?” Then he smiled at you.

No, it wasn’t a smirk. It was a smile. Himchan was capable of smiling.

This day was getting weirder and weirder.

“F-fine,” you stammered, totally confused. “Why are you talking to me?” you blurted before you could stop yourself.

“Why not?” he retorted, a little put off by your admittedly rude inquiry.

“I’m sorry,” you said. “I mean, you haven’t talked to me since…you know…”

He chuckled. “You really think one night of public humiliation would tear me down for good? I thought you knew me better, Mary Sue,” he scolded. “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. And trust me,” his eyes glinted as he put a hand on the wall and leaned toward you. “I’m strong, baby.”

_crack crack crack crack_

Then he was smiling warmly again, his friendly demeanor back, but he was still leaning over to you and speaking softly so only you would hear. “Thanks for the wake up call,” he murmured. With a wink, he left you standing there, still confused and more alone.

It was just after third period when you exited the bathroom and noticed a girl wandering the halls whom you had never seen before. She was blonde and very pretty, and she seemed like she might have been lost, considering there was nobody else around and class had already started. So you approached her.

“Excuse me,” you said, catching her attention. “Do you know what class you’re supposed to be in?”

Her eyes scanned you up and down, as if she was deciding whether or not she could trust you. “Chemistry,” she answered shortly.

“Oh, that room’s tricky to find,” you empathized. “If you walk down this hallway, it’s actually around a corner, and you’ll find it right there.”

The girl leaned back against the lockers and looked away from you. “Thanks,” she muttered.

You smiled. “I’m Mary Sue,” you said, extending a hand.

She stared at it without moving or speaking until you awkwardly retracted it.

You really wanted to help this girl out. It seemed like she was unhappy. Maybe she didn’t have any friends. You should try to be her friend. Let her know that you understand what she’s going through.

“It’s tough being the new girl,” you said. “I would know. I was in that position at the beginning of this year.”

You thought you saw a flash of something in those eyes as they flickered to you. Maybe you were getting through to her.

“New girl?” she repeated simply.

“Yeah,” you said. “People used to call me that all the time. Like a nickname.” You tried to break that stony expression of hers with a smile, but it didn’t seem to work. “I guess now I can call you new girl, huh?” You giggled.

Her mouth seemed to harden and she rolled her eyes. The girl didn’t say anything as she brushed past you and stalked off down the hallway. In the opposite direction of the chemistry classroom.

She must’ve been really shy. Or maybe she figured she couldn’t trust you to be her friend. Had you come across as a bitch? Or fake? You hoped she didn’t think you saw her as some vulnerable student to pick on because she was new and so pretty. You just didn’t want what happened to you because of that to happen to her as well. But it seemed you scared her off instead.

You sighed before finally returning to your fourth period class.

You still couldn’t shake off that feeling of strangeness that had followed you all day as you entered the cafeteria later. You’d had this odd notion that the weirdness wasn’t over yet. As you approached your usual lunch table, you noticed someone—very familiar, but who certainly did not belong in this setting. It couldn’t be…could it? You felt like you were in the Twilight Zone as your eyes confirmed what your mind couldn’t believe.

Sure enough, Chanyeol turned around and his wide eyes met yours, open in a wide grin as he waved cheerily at you. What the hell was he doing here?

“What the hell are you doing here?” you asked him when you had reached the table.

“I enrolled!” he answered.

Your mouth fell open. “You what?” This didn’t make any sense. Wasn’t he a full time vampire Hunter? Who would hunt vampires if he was here going to high school? Was he going to protect the high school from vampires now, so he was going undercover as a student to blend in?

You needed answers, but there were too many people around who might overhear, so you grabbed Chanyeol by the arm and dragged him out of the cafeteria and into the hallway to talk privately.

You didn’t want anyone to hear anything you said, so you beckoned Chanyeol. “Come a little closer,” you whispered.

_crack crack crack crack_

He complied and shuffled closer to you until you looked nice and cozy in that hallway to any passersby (of which there were many).

“Don’t you have some vampire hunting to do?” you hissed at him. “What are you doing going to high school? What about this?” You held up the talisman that you still wore. “What if you start shooting fire in some emergency and everyone sees! Then what would you do?”

Chanyeol chuckled. “Except that this,” he lightly held the talisman you were dangling. “Doesn’t work anymore.”

You blinked at him. “What are you talking about?”

“None of us have our powers anymore,” he said. “The talismans are useless.”

“Useless?? Then it doesn’t protect me from vampires anymore?” Was this why Chanyeol had chosen to enroll at the high school? Because something was wrong with the talismans, so he wanted to make sure you would stay safe?

He shook his head. “Nope. All the vampires are dead.”

“Then wha—wait, dead? All the vampires are dead?”

Chanyeol nodded. “They were all killed during the eclipse. They’re extinct now.”

You blinked again at him. “How does that make any sense?” you demanded.

The Hunter-but-no-longer-a-Hunter-because-there-was-nothing-to-Hunt thought a moment before explaining. “Remember when we first met?”

You nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

“You were attacked by TOP?”

You nodded again, still following.

“And he said he was an endangered species?”

You thought for a moment, and then nodded again. You vaguely remembered that, although you wondered why he had brought up something so obscure.

“Well, he wasn’t lying.”

…

Oh. It took you a moment to catch up on that one.

“So…they were all endangered, and they were planning on using the solar eclipse to start a vampire apocalypse so they wouldn’t be endangered anymore, but because they were all out during the eclipse ready to roam the surface without fear, they all were outside when the eclipse ended and so the sun hit all of them and wiped them into extinction like the meteor wiped out the dinosaurs?”

Chanyeol nodded once, his contagious grin having taken over his face. “Yeah, just like that.”

_crack crack crack crack_

You giggled. “Okay, so you’re not here to protect me from vampires. What are you doing here then?”

He hesitated a little before responding. “I’ve never gotten to be normal before,” he said. “I just wanted to do what normal people do. You lived a normal life before you were the Chosen One, and I wanted to be a part of that life.”

Your heart rate quickened when he talked about you.

“I thought we could try out this dating thing,” he mumbled, his demeanor suddenly adorably shy. “Be a normal couple. I mean,” he cleared , “if that’s okay with you.”

Your smile was making your cheeks hurt. How could he be so brave and bold when he was fighting vampires, but so timid and cute when he was just talking to you?

“I mean, I can leave if you want me to,” he mumbled, and then you realized you were just standing there smiling at him without saying anything and should probably answer the poor boy.

“Of course!”

“Oh…” His face fell a little bit. “Okay—“

“No, I mean—don’t leave!” You pulled him back, still grinning. “Let’s date.” And just like that, his wide smile was back on his face. “I have to be home by ten every night though,” you mentioned. “You know how it is.”

_crack crack crack crack_

Chanyeol shrugged. “Never stopped us before.”

“So, with the vampires being extinct now,” you said as the two of you walked leisurely back to the lunch table, “and with our curfew now in place,” you both sat down where Jonghyun, Amber and Key were already sitting. You sighed. “We’re gonna have a lot more time on our hands, aren’t we?”

Just then, Krystal ran excitedly up to the table and slammed her hands down on the surface. “Oh. My. God. Did you hear? Ren just got out of juvie!”

You blinked at her dumbfoundedly. Who was Ren? What was Ren doing in juvie? Why was this such important news?

Since you’re terrible at organizing thoughts into words, all of your confusion culminated into a simple monosyllabic exclamation.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a Strong Baby joke. You can also think of it as cracks in the narrative because this is terrible.


	30. Chapter 30

“Well, Chanyeol, I must say this comes as quite a surprise. We were worried our daughter might have fallen into the wrong crowd, but if she’s associating herself with such nice gentlemen like you, it’s reassuring to say the least.”

Chanyeol beamed widely at your parents. You would have thought he was laying it on a bit thick with how nice and happy he was being, but you knew that was just how he was.

He had insisted on taking you home after school so he could meet your parents before you started dating. He made it clear he was determined to do this whole courtship thing right, by the book. And that entailed getting your parents’ blessing. You were nervous about this, but they had warmed up nicely to Chanyeol, and you thought that as long as they didn’t know you were with him every time you snuck out, then they would trust him.

“Now, Chanyeol,” your father began sternly, trying to be serious but you could see he was hiding a smile. “Our Mary Sue does have to be home at a reasonable time.”

Chanyeol nodded quickly. “Of course, she told me about the curfew.”

Your parents smiled wider at this, sharing a pleased look between the two of them.

“I promise I’ll have her home safely by ten every night.” And he dazzled them again with another smile.

“Very well,” your father acquiesced. “You may date our daughter.”

“Thank you very much, sir,” Chanyeol replied, bowing. He would have stayed to suck up some more, but you grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the house before you could suffocate from the levels of bullshit.

“They like you,” you told him in the car, as if he needed to hear it from you.

“They do?” He just couldn’t stop smiling. His eyes had lit up like sparklers.

“You’re charming,” you said.

You didn’t miss the slight tinge of pink that crept onto his face when you said that.

“So where do you want to go for our first date?” he asked.

You shrugged. “Coffee and a walk in the park?” you suggested, remembering the day you had spent with him doing just that, and talking with him and generally enjoying his company. It would be nice to do it again, now that you were officially dating.

He smiled. “That sounds perfect.”

 

“Transvestite?!” Key spluttered hysterically. He was laughing rather uncontrollably, pounding his fists on his mattress, while Jonghyun just sat there and pouted at him.

“It’s not funny,” he muttered indignantly.

Key tried to reign in his laughter when he saw the look on Jonghyun’s face. “You’re right,” he said, humor still laced throughout his voice. “It’s not funny.” He did his best to put on a serious face, trying to show a little empathy. Jonghyun could tell he was having a hard time with it though. Sure enough, Key lost control a moment later and erupted into laughter again.

Jonghyun’s expression just became more pathetic. “Key!” he whined, smooshing one of Key’s pillows over his face. “You’re not helping the situation.” His grumbling was muffled by the fluffiness of the pillow.

Key lifted the sparkly pillow from Jonghyun’s face and looked at him with a smile, a much gentler smile than he had on before. “Hey,” he nudged. “I’m sorry, okay?”

Jonghyun smiled. He supposed it was okay.

Encouraged by this, Key leaned down and brought their lips together. Jonghyun laced his fingers through his hair and brought him closer. Key moved to a more accommodating position on top of Jonghyun, who moved his hands to his waist. He felt Key’s tongue nudge his lips insistently, and he complied and let him intensify the kiss.

Their breathing became heavier, and Jonghyun’s heart rate quickened. He felt Key tugging at the hem of his shirt before sliding his cool hand beneath it. Key moved to kiss along his jawline, and Jonghyun exhaled shakily as fingers trailed teasingly down his ribs.

“What time is it?” he suddenly choked out.

“Who cares?” Key responded, refusing to leave Jonghyun’s neck.

He sat up suddenly, forcing Key to sit up with him, and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost 9:30.

Key huffed in incredulous annoyance. “You know, when Kai lost his teleportation powers, I though I wouldn’t have to worry about cockblocks anymore,” he said. “But you’re doing a fine enough job of it yourself.”

“I have to leave soon,” Jonghyun simply stated. “Curfew’s at ten.”

Key sighed heavily. “Why can’t you just forget the curfew?”

Jonghyun shook his head. “They already think I’m a transvestite. I don’t want them also thinking that I moonlight as a male stripper or something.”

“Who cares what they think?” Key retorted. “Why should it matter if they think you go around at night carving people’s faces in the image of Cthulu?”

“I don’t want them to worry about me or be scared of me,” he said. “They’re my parents, Key. I want to have a good relationship with them.”

Their eyes met, and Jonghyun saw a sudden seriousness in Key’s expression. “Then tell them the truth,” he said, his voice low and deliberate. “Or is being in a relationship with me just as bad?”

Jonghyun didn’t want to see the hurt in those eyes. He averted his gaze downwards. Key took that as his answer.

“Go home,” he stated in the same voice. “You don’t want to be late for curfew. What would your parents think?”

He had nothing to say to that. What could he say? What could possibly make this better? So he silently obeyed and left, not once able to bring himself to look back at Key’s hurt expression.

 

After a day in the park sipping lattes (which Chanyeol insisted he’d pay for) and then later feeding each other some little pastries from a small bakery nearby, you waved goodbye to Chanyeol from your doorstep and stepped inside at 9:45. You passed your parents, who smiled at you, apparently pleased, and told you there was something that came for you in the mail, and scampered on up to your room where Jonghyun was lying on your bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“How was your date with Chanyeol?” he asked you without changing the direction of his gaze.

You sighed wistfully in response. “It was perfect,” was all you could say.

He smiled meekly. “Oh. That’s good.”

“What did you do today?” you asked him, practically skipping across the room to plop yourself down on the bed beside him.

“Oh, you know,” he sighed. “Hung out at Key’s house.”

“Sounds like fun,” you said, more just to say something than anything.

“Yeah…”

It was silent for a few moments, and your mind drifted back to Chanyeol.

“Mary Sue?”

“Hm?”

A pause. “What do you think Donghae’s parents thought about him and Eunhyuk?”

“What?” You had to bring yourself back down to earth.

“Do you think they understood?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about when Donghae finally admitted that Eunhyuk was his true love. Do you think his parents understood? Or do you think he had a hard time talking to them about it? Like would they be confused, or would they refuse to believe it, or would they be unhappy about it?” He turned his wide eyes to you. “What do you think, Mary Sue?”

He seemed really worried about Donghae. You smiled and chuckled. “Jonghyun, don’t worry,” you told him with a friendly pat on the cheek. “Guys can’t love each other.”

Jonghyun sighed and looked away from you. “Right,” he muttered, pushing your hand away. Then he rolled off your bed and stalked out of the room without another word.

You looked after him, hoping he would feel better later.

Then you remembered that thing you got in the mail, which you were still holding. It was an unmarked envelope, besides the sloppy “Mary Sue” scrawled across it. You opened it and took out a letter that was written in red…lipstick?

“Really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover  
Everyone isn’t called  
New girl”

You scanned it twice and blinked at it confusedly.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it comes across that this fic is not laughing at transvestites, crossdressers, etc. just at the misunderstanding that Jonghyun is one.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The word "fuck" is mentioned in a sexual context I'm sure it's very shocking.

“What do you think it means?” you asked, examining the note at the lunch table.

“’New girl’?” Chanyeol read from the note.

“Yeah,” you said. “I was called that when we moved here.”

“Who called you that? Maybe that will help us figure out who wrote it,” he suggested.

You thought for a moment. “Everybody called me ‘new girl’.” Come to think of it, there was hardly a single person who didn’t address you that way at least once.

Defeated, Chanyeol tossed the note to the middle of the table, where Krystal picked it up.

“Well, it was obviously written by a girl,” she decided.

“What makes you say that?” Chanyeol asked.

“It’s written in lipstick. I don’t know many guys who wear lipstick, do you?” She passed the note on to Amber.

“It must be somebody you know,” she said. “Whoever it is, I think you offended her.”

“Really?” you asked. “How?”

“’Really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, everyone isn’t called, new girl,’” she read. “It just sounds kind of bitter to me.”

Sunny made a small gasping sound from beside you. “But Mary Sue is the nicest person anyone has ever met. How could she offend anybody?”

Amber shrugged in response and gave the note to Key to study. “CL didn’t like her very much,” she pointed out. “Actually, I think she still isn’t very fond of Mary Sue.”

“Look,” he said, pointing at the note while showing Amber.

“What is it?”

“If you read the lines down, it spells ‘Ren’.”

Amber stared a little at the note. “Great,” she said finally with no intonation. “I don’t really see how that helps us though.”

“Are you serious?” Key asked. “It’s literally spelled out for us—“

“Key, we’ve already established, this was written by a girl whom Mary Sue has offended personally, somebody she’s met,” Amber cut off. “Have you even met Ren?” she asked you.

You shook your head in response. You had no idea who Ren was still. What did he even look like?

“It’s just coincidence,” she concluded, handing you back the note finally.

You stared down at the lipsticky handwriting, not any closer to solving this mystery.

 

Sunny and you were still pondering it on your way to chemistry. “I don’t even know what the note is trying to tell me,” you admitted, utterly confounded by it all.

As you walked through the doorway of the classroom, she optimistically suggested, “Maybe someone else can help us out with it!”

“Help you out with what?”

You jumped a little bit at the deep voice and turned to see Himchan smiling at you, chuckling a little bit at your reaction. You and Sunny exchanged a quick glance before silently agreeing and turning back to him. “Mary Sue got a weird note in the mail,” Sunny explained. “It’s some sort of hidden message, and we’re trying to figure it out.”

Himchan blinked and offered to take a look at it, holding out his hand. You placed the folded letter in his upturned palm and bit your lip anxiously as he read it. The first thing he said was, “It’s written in…lipstick?”

You and Sunny nodded.

Then he turned it around and pointed, saying, “It spells out ‘Ren’ when you look at the beginning letters.”

Your shoulders fell. “We know,” you responded, taking the letter back. “That doesn’t seem relevant at all, though. I haven’t even met this Ren person.”

“He just got out of juvie though,” Himchan said.

That…still seemed really irrelevant to you. “What was he even in juvie for, anyway?” you wondered aloud.

You looked to Sunny and Himchan, who both just shrugged.

“It was pretty covered up,” Sunny said.

“Ren’s part of a gang, and you’d be surprised what they’re capable of,” Himchan added. “Rumor has it they’re so spread out that they know everything that happens in every corner of the school.” He glanced around furtively before lowering his voice. “You never know who’s part of it, either.”

You gulped at the thought of never knowing who among you were part of something so sinister. “Then who can you trust?” you murmured to no one in particular.

The other two shrugged again. “Exactly,” Himchan answered.

 

You sighed when you got home. The confusion from today was enough to make you want to take a long bath and a longer nap. Maybe you would take a nap in the bath.

Before you could get much further than the entryway, however, your eyes alit on another envelope with your name scrawled across the front of it, sitting on your kitchen table waiting for you. You furrowed your eyebrows as you picked it up and opened it to find another note. This one was pasted together with letters from a magazine. How weird.

“Reading my note for  
Everyone to hear was  
Not a good idea at all”

Well. That was really fucking creepy. You felt your pulse stutter as you looked around, suddenly feeling as if you were being watched. You decided it was probably best not to tell anybody about this one. You also didn’t feel like taking a bath anymore.

 

You giggled as Chanyeol ate another cucumber sandwich from your outstretched hand. It was his idea to have a picnic in the park, and it was the perfect day as the sun was shining brightly and it was unseasonably warm. It had also gotten your mind off of the strange letters you had received. You weren’t even thinking about the possibility of being watched now. As always, you felt safe around Chanyeol.

“Did you figure out who sent you that letter, by the way?” he asked you.

Your stomach dropped at the reminder. “No,” you answered.

He made a sympathetic face. “Do you have any ideas?”

You knew he was trying to help, but you really didn’t think it was a good idea to talk about it. Even if there seemed to be no one around.

“No, but can we just forget about it?” you said. “I really don’t know who could have sent it, and it all seems really pointless and isolated.”

He smiled. “Okay. It seems like it was some kind of prank or something anyway.”

You laughed nervously. “Probably.”

“Not a very good one though,” he added.

You shook your head. “No, it wasn’t.”

Chanyeol shifted and lay down so his head was in your lap and he was staring up at the sky. Your fingers automatically went to his hair, which was really freaking soft. It calmed you down. Then he heaved a big, contented sigh.

You grinned at him and began to laugh. “What was that?”

He looked at you with big, questioning eyes. “Oh,” he chuckled. “I was just…I really love being out during the day. I haven’t had so much exposure to the sun since I joined the Hunters. It’s nice.”

You stared off in thought for a moment, still absentmindedly stroking his hair. “What are they all up to lately?” you asked him. “Since they’re not Hunters anymore?”

He shrugged. “Most of us still hang out there, since we have nowhere else to go. Suho takes care of us, and Luhan still pays for everything we need. A few got jobs, just so they had something to do.”

“Most of you still live there?” He nodded. “Who doesn’t?”

“Well,” he answered, “Tao and Kris took off. I don’t know if they’re out traveling around together or what, but they left at the same time. They probably couldn’t stand being stuck here dwelling in the same place anymore, so they just left.”

“The whole vampire extinction must have been kind of hard on them,” you sympathized. “Since Tao had been fighting vampires all his life. And the talismans stopped working before Kris even got to discover his power.”

Chanyeol chuckled. “You know who really took it all hard?”

You shook your head as you opened your mouth to accept a finger sandwich from him.

“Kai. The vampire extinction and the loss of his teleportation powers.” He shook his head, grinning. “That kid loved fighting vampires.”

“What did he do?”

Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrowed a little bit. “He was really vocal about how upset he was that he had nothing fun to do anymore. Like, really vocal. He wouldn’t shut up about it for the longest time.”

“And then?”

“And then I think Kyungsoo got sick of watching him being so frustrated with all of that pent up energy, so he fucked him into oblivion or something and now I never hear him complain anymore.”

You blinked as your mind tried to absorb the quickly-stated explanation.

“What?!”


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sex is mentioned and it's still very shocking.

“Na na na na na na na nanana na na na na na NU A B O!”

Krystal finished her short performance and you burst out into applause. “Wow!” you exclaimed. “You’re amazing!”

She smiled bashfully. “You really think so?”

“Of course!” you praised. “The lyrics are so…deep! How did you come up with something like that?”

She shrugged. “Oh, you know. Do you really think I’ll make it?”

“They’d be stupid not to accept you,” you answered. Krystal’s singing audition was that afternoon, and you just knew she would blow them away.

Krystal sighed. “Thanks, Mary Sue,” she said. “You’re the nicest girl I’ve ever met.”

You grinned at her before the two of you decided to start paying attention in class, oblivious to the stares.

 

“Do you think she’ll do well?”

“Of course she will! She’s the best singer at Mordney High.”

Chanyeol opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the kitten that had clambered up onto his shoulder as it had begun pawing at his face. You grinned at the sight as he chuckled and picked it up into his hands so he could set it down. It immediately latched onto his fingers and started gnawing on them.

Today Chanyeol had the idea of volunteering at the shelter to play with the animals. You looked around at the small room you were in. There were meowing cats everywhere, climbing on posts and napping and playing with each other. Their purrs and cries filled your ears. It seemed kind of sad that they were here instead of in a good home, but you felt all warm and happy being around so many adorable animals. This was a good idea.

This whole dating Chanyeol thing was going extremely well. Every moment you spent with him, you were happy and carefree, and you really liked going out with him. The dates you went on together were always simple and fun. And you certainly liked the fact that you were finally dating someone of your own free will. Things felt…normal. Your life hadn’t been that normal in a while.

You were pulled out of your reverie by Chanyeol, who looked like he had been deep in thought as well as he played with the little kitten.

“Should we get one?”

You didn’t know if you had heard him correctly. “What?”

He looked up and met your eyes with a smile. “I kind of want a kitten,” he said.

Your mouth gaped open. “I mean… do you think we could take care of it?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “Why not?”

“Kittens are a big responsibility,” you fumbled. “I don’t know—“

He laughed. “It was just an idea.” The smile never left his face as he returned his attention to the kitten, which was getting rowdier by the minute as it had now wrapped itself around his hand and was kicking at his arm with both hind legs.

You smiled as well. When you thought about it, you kind of liked the idea of having a kitten with Chanyeol. Not right now though. You didn’t know if you were ready for a kitten yet. But in the future…maybe.

You reached forward and tickled the kitten, causing it to jump up away from its vice grip on Chanyeol’s arm. It mewed disgruntledly at you.

 

The next morning at school, as you and Jonghyun walked through the halls, you couldn’t help but notice Krystal crying at her locker, Amber and her sister Jessica beside her comforting her. Your super-best-friend instincts kicked in and you immediately rushed to her side to see what was up.

“She was turned down,” Amber explained for you, as Krystal couldn’t speak past her hiccuped sobs. Your mouth fell open. What? Krystal was turned down at the audition? Inconceivable!

“But,” you spluttered. “That’s impossible! Krystal’s the best singer at Mordney High!”

“Well she wasn’t the best singer at the audition,” Amber responded somberly.

“Shh,” Jessica cooed, stroking Krystal’s hair. “It’s okay.”

“There’ll be other auditions,” Amber joined. “You always have another chance.”

“What other chance?!” Krystal cried. “I’m a failure! I should just turn in my application to McDonald’s today!”

“Krystal,” her sister said softly. “It isn’t the end of the world.”

“It’s the end of _my_ world.”

“You’re overreacting.”

“You’re discounting my dreams!”

“You haven’t failed anything!” you cut in. “You just need to practice some more and try again. Don’t let this bring you down!”

Krystal sniffed and looked to you. “That’s easy for you to say, Mary Sue. Have you ever been rejected in your entire life?”

You thought back. You couldn’t think of any…wait, there was…no…

“That’s not important,” you dismissed. “What matters is that _you_ decide whether you’re good enough, not some heartless, mindless industry who doesn’t care about an up-and-coming like you. Let this experience motivate you to be even better than you already are!”

Amber smiled at you. Krystal choked back a few sobs. “You really think so?”

“I know so!” You grinned at her. “You just need to get your mind off of this one and have some fun. Get your confidence back up.”

“How?”

Your smile widened as an idea came to mind. “Let’s all have a karaoke night tonight!” you suggested. “All of us. It’ll be fun!”

Everyone seemed to like that idea.

 

“Uh-huh,” Sunny started as the music started playing. “Listen boy.” She winked at Sungmin, who smiled back. “My first love story.”

She and Jessica both sang, “Ooh, woah-oh, ooh, woah-oh, yeah,” into their microphones.

“My angel,” Sunny continued the introduction. “And my girls,” she nodded toward you. “My sunshine.”

Then she and Jessica broke out into a cute bubbly song, even doing this cute crab-walking dance that you were sure you would fail miserably at, even if you weren’t wearing heels.

“Wow,” you heard somebody whisper. You looked past Chanyeol to see Baekhyun staring at the two girls singing, completely enamored by their performance.

“Um,” you whispered, leaning toward Chanyeol. “Why is Baekhyun at karaoke night again?”

“He really wanted to come when I mentioned it,” he answered. “I couldn’t say no to him. Besides, he’s my best friend.” He pouted at you, and it was just so darn cute, you didn’t know what to do with yourself, so you just melted.

“Okay,” you squeaked, and he grinned.

Sunny and Jessica finished their song, and they received a very enthusiastic standing ovation from Baekhyun.

“That was amazing! You’re so amazing!” he said, clutching his hair like he just couldn’t contain himself.

“Aw, thanks!” Sunny responded, while Jessica just raised her eyebrows.

“You’re so pretty,” he sighed. He made you think of a puppy.

Sunny patted his head and smiled brightly. “You’re too cute.”

Baekhyun melted at the compliment, and his gaze followed her as she went to sit back down next to Sungmin, who looked less than pleased at the moment.

“What was your name again?” Sungmin suddenly asked.

“Um, it’s Baekhyun,” he answered meekly.

“Why don’t you sing a song next,” Sungmin suggested, gesturing toward the karaoke machine. “Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun suddenly looked a little flustered. “Oh, I don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “I mean, I haven’t really… I’m not much of a singer,” he finally managed to choke out.

“Nonsense,” Sungmin responded. “It’s not like we’re trying to impress anyone, right?”

You and everyone else nodded encouragingly at Baekhyun. “Yeah,” Krystal agreed. “It’s just for fun.”

Baekhyun considered it for a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”

He chose a love song from the list, and when he opened to sing, he let out a voice that would make angels swoon. (You inwardly congratulated yourself on that poetic description.) Everyone in the room was in awe, staring at Baekhyun with gaping mouths as his smooth voice circled around them. Except for Sungmin, who was just sort of… glaring? He seemed angry, but you had no idea why.

“Wow, Baekhyun, you’re a really good singer,” Sunny cheered when the song was finished.

Sungmin scoffed. “It was alright,” he muttered.

Baekhyun grinned at Sungmin and held the microphone out to him. “Maybe you’d like to go next?” he offered, smirking slightly.

Sungmin accepted the microphone, sauntered up to the karaoke machine and sang the best love song that karaoke machine had to offer. It was titled “Love Song.” Based on just this information, the identity of the song’s artist was ambiguous, but it didn’t matter. As he sang, he performed mostly to Sunny, but every once in a while he’d shoot a pointed look in Baekhyun’s direction. You didn’t really know what that was about. When he finished, he and Baekhyun exchanged identical smug smiles and the mic was passed on to Krystal, who brought you and Amber up to all sing a fun song together.

As you performed, laughing along with the other two girls and those who were happily watching, you were really pleased about the night’s turn out. You decided you should suggest group outings like this more often since everyone was having so much fun together.

 

Jonghyun watched everybody else having fun at karaoke night, putting on a smile to hide the tension he was actually feeling. He shouldn’t have been feeling this way. It was just that Key was sitting next to him, and normally that isn’t a problem, but since that argument they had, or whatever Jonghyun cared to call it, things had been a little bit tense between them, and well… All he wanted was to hold Key’s hand!

Their hands rested next to each other on the couch, almost touching. Just almost. If he would only move his fingers just a little bit, just touch his hand. He willed it to move, but always when he felt he was just about to finally do it, he lost his courage, and his hand remained where it was, and Key’s where it was, and nothing happened between them.

Suddenly, Key brought his hand up to run it through his hair briefly and then set it back down on the couch. Closer to Jonghyun’s hand. He felt his heart beat a little faster when Key’s fingertips just barely made contact with his hand.

Hold his hand.

Why won’t you do it? Just touch his hand!

Just move your hand, wiggle your fingers, do something! Please!

Key stood up then, accepting the microphone from Amber—Jonghyun hadn’t noticed that they finished their song—and Jonghyun’s heart sank a little bit. He had missed his chance. Feeling a bit dejected, he put his hand in his lap and stared forlornly down at it.

“Hey,” Key said to him, causing Jonghyun to look up. He was met with Key’s smile. “Get up and sing with me.” He took hold of Jonghyun’s hand and pulled him onto his feet.

Jonghyun couldn’t help but smile and feel just a little giddy at the moment. Things were okay right now.

 

You sighed as you entered your quiet, peaceful house. This was the perfect night out. It was just what everyone needed. Krystal’s confidence had shot through the roof it seemed, and she had earnestly thanked you for everything just before you all parted ways.

You yawned, rubbing your eyes as you shuffled into your bedroom. It wasn’t until you had changed into cozy pajamas and gotten ready for bed that you noticed the envelope on your nightstand. You froze in place and your heart began hammering. You really didn’t want that to be real. Quickly, you rushed to grab it and stuff it into your drawer without reading it, then jumped beneath the covers, wishing all of the messages would stop.

You weren’t sure when you managed to fall asleep that night. You were exhausted by the next morning.

 

At the lunch table, before everyone had shown up, you were trying to stay awake, munching on a pickle in hopes of gleaning some shred of energy from it. Krystal was the first to rush to the table, joining you and Jonghyun and Amber and Key, excitedly slamming her palms on the surface of it. You all stared at her questioningly, but she just squealed loudly. Apparently she couldn’t even articulate what had caused her to be in such a state.

When she had finally calmed down enough to speak, she broke the news. “I got discovered!”

You all blinked at her, silently urging her to elaborate. She sighed, her smile splitting her face in two, and sat down exasperatedly.

“There was a talent scout at karaoke night last night! He heard us all singing, and he approached me after we were done and offered me a spot in the company he works for!”

Everyone was extremely excited by this news. “That’s great!” you exclaimed.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Mary Sue! Thanks for pushing me to do better.”

“Good thing you had the idea to go out to karaoke,” Amber mused, grinning.

Krystal sighed again. “I guess I’ll be really busy from here on. I won’t have a lot of free time, what with training schedules now.”

Amber smiled and stroked her hair. “Well, we’ll be okay,” she said. “We’ll just have to squeeze in as much sex as we can in the time that we have.” They both laughed.

You had zoned out for a second there, and now people were laughing. “What?” you asked, perking up to pay attention to the conversation again.

Amber’s head swiveled to you and gaped open as she faltered for a second.

“What?!”


	33. Chapter 33

When all eight people were gathered at your usual lunch table, you looked around. You noticed something about the people sitting here. Something to do with…couples.

There were a total of two couples that sat at this table: you and Chanyeol, and Sunny and Sungmin. Two happy couples, while the other four people were lonely and single. Two remaining boys and two remaining girls, who all deserved to feel the love of companionship! After all, Valentine’s Day was approaching, and you could feel your matchmaking skills just itching to be put to use.

You cleared your throat to command their attention. “Have any of you guys ever thought about dating?” you asked.

You were met with some exchanged glances, a blinking blank stare, and general confusion.

“What do you mean?” Krystal asked.

“Well I was just thinking that Valentine’s Day is coming up, and I noticed you all don’t have boyfriends or girlfriends—“

“Ha!” Key let out a bark of a laugh. “Don’t be so quick to assume, Mary Sue.”

“You have a girlfriend, Key?” you said interestedly.

He put his face in his hand. “No, Mary Sue,” he muttered, massaging the bridge of his nose. “Just…Stop trying to involve yourself in our personal lives, okay?”

It was silent for a few moments.

“But everyone should have a date for Valentine’s Day,” you pressed.

“Mary Sue!” Key barked, while Amber started to laugh. “Don’t you dare try to set us up. Because I know that’s where you’re going with this, so let me just stop you before you start.”

“I know, I know,” you said, waving your hands at him.

“Do you?” He seemed like he didn’t believe you.

“Of course I do,” you said. “I remember when you told me that you and Amber didn’t date because you weren’t each other’s type.”

“Oh,” he said and leaned back in his chair. “Good.”

“That’s why it would work like this,” you said, ignoring Chanyeol’s low mutters of “Mary Sue, I don’t think…” and drawing up a quick diagram to hold up for them. “See?”

 

Key smacked a hand to his forehead and groaned. Jonghyun sunk in his chair a little bit, while Amber burst out into laughter again. Krystal just looked perplexed by all of this.

“Mary Sue,” Sunny gasped. “Your drawing is so cute!”

“Thank you!” you answered pointedly, glaring at Key. At least someone understood!

“No,” Key said flatly. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not?” you protested. “At least give it some thought. Valentine’s Day!”

Amber chuckled. “Give it a rest, Mary Sue.”

You sighed and put the drawing away, pouting.

Then Chanyeol showed you his own drawing, which made you smile again.

 

  
You were grumbling all the way to your locker, muttering things like, “Cute couple,” and “Valentine’s Day,” and “Happiness.”

“What’s this about Valentine’s Day?” you heard behind you. Nichkhun stepped up beside you and greeted you with a wink.

“Oh,” you said as you continued together down the hall. “It’s just that…” You bit your lip, deciding whether or not to even say anything, because why would he care about your friends’ love lives? But then you realized it was Nichkhun, and he was totally into people’s love lives. “I’m trying to set up Krystal and Key and Jonghyun and Amber, so that they will find love with each other and be happy on Valentine’s Day instead of lonely and disparate and alone! Forever!” you said all in one breath.

Nichkhun blinked a few times while he tried to process the words that were just splattered all over his front. And then he chuckled. “I might be able to help with that,” he said, to your surprise.

“What? Really?”

He nodded. “If you’ll help me with my own… Valentine.”

You suddenly got all excited. “You want my help?” He nodded and you beamed. Another chance to help two wandering souls find love! “I’ll do it!”

“Excellent.” He put an arm around your shoulder and brought you closer, as if to tell you a secret. “Now what you want to do is this: don’t tell them you’re setting them up with each other. Instead, send them all on blind dates.”

You gasped. “Blind dates?”

He nodded, and your smile grew wide. It was brilliant!

“That’s brilliant!” you said. “Thanks Nichkhun!”

“Anytime.” Then he released you from his arm and turned a corner, leaving you to continue the walk to your locker.

Your locker held a very disturbing surprise, though, stopping you in your tracks when you saw it.

Scrawled across the front of it in large dripping red letters were the words:

“READ  
EVERY  
NOTE”

You looked around. Students were staring at you and whispering about you, but when you glanced in their direction they quickly looked away, as if they didn’t want to associate themselves with you.

Clearly, whoever was sending these messages knew that you hadn’t read the last one.

You sighed shakily, pretending you weren’t completely freaked out as you opened your locker to get the books you needed for chemistry.

Okay, you decided, giving in to the situation. You would go back and read that note tonight. The sooner you could figure out who was doing all of this, the sooner you could resolve the conflict and move on with your life.

 

Moonlight spilled out over the snowy garden, giving it a surreal glow, and Jonghyun wondered why he didn’t come out here more often. The garden was beautiful, even in winter. He sighed—for probably the fiftieth time that day—and leaned against the stone fountain that was in the center of the garden. He gazed up at the moon. It was so different from everything else in the sky, so separate.

He wished he could find it in himself to talk to his parents, to finally come out to them like Key said he should, but he just couldn’t. What if they didn’t accept him? He thought maybe if he got Mary Sue on his side, then maybe he could tell his parents, and if they decided they didn’t love him any more after that, then at least Mary Sue would.

But she didn’t even understand. Not even Mary Sue, his own identical twin sister, seemed to understand him. He sighed again and lowered his gaze to the ground.

Something caught his attention. A small glowing object, resembling the moon in the sky, and he realized it was a silver coin. He picked it up and smiled a little bit, clutching it to his chest for a moment before sending a hopeful toss into the fountain behind him.

 _Clink_.

Jonghyun turned around only to see that the coin was merely met with ice. He exhaled, his breath fogging before him, stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed toward the house. He supposed it was hopeless after all.

 

When you got home promptly at ten from your date with Chanyeol, you huffed and steeled yourself to face the task you knew you had to accomplish. You trudged up to your bedroom to find that note that you had gotten the night before. It was still in your drawer where you had stashed it away.

You slowly took it out, holding it tentatively in your hands as if it were a bomb that might explode if you handled it too roughly, and opened it, pulling out the folded paper inside.

This note was written in charcoal, heavy-handed thick and black against the paper and smearing and smudging where it had come into contact with the folds.

“Ready to find out why  
Escape is impossible  
Now that you’ve been targeted?”

You sighed. That didn’t sound friendly at all. Escape is impossible? You’ve been targeted? What did it all mean?

The only hope you had was for the hint of information the note implied. It seemed like everything would reveal itself soon, that whoever was sending these messages was going to come forward and explain things to you face to face, and that prospect, however intimidating, was at least a step toward solving whatever problems you had with them.

Or maybe they would just send you another note.

You were tired. You needed to sleep.

But as you lay there in your bed that night with the moon shining through your window, you found you couldn’t sleep at all.

 

“I have an idea,” you announced at lunch the next day in the middle of an already established conversation.

“Well if it’s about your affinity for eating phallic things, keep it to yourself,” Key responded.

“What?” You shook your head. “No, not about the petition for the new lunch menu.”

“Okay, then what?” Amber asked.

“What if I set you all up on blind dates?”

Key sighed dramatically. “Mary Sue, we talked about this—“

“I know, but Key, please!”

“Stop trying to set us up with each other, Mary Sue, it’s not gonna work.”

“Shh!” You put your finger to your lips to shush Key. “Key, it’s a blind date! You don’t know who I’m setting you up with.”

He blinked at you and Amber immediately erupted into a fit of laughter.

“Regardless of how discreet you think you’re being,” he grit out, “none of us are interested in your romantic machinations.”

“But Key!” you whined. “Valentine’s Day!”

“Yeah, Key,” Amber joined, still laughing. “Valentine’s Day!”

You smiled at the support. One less person to try to convince!

“For the last time, Mary Sue, no!”

And that was the end of the conversation.

 

You trudged toward Nichkhun’s locker in a cloud of failure.

“It didn’t work,” you whined at his back.

He finished getting his books out and then turned to face you, shutting his locker by coolly leaning against it. “What didn’t work?”

“The blind date thing. I suggested it at lunch, but they all turned me down.” You pouted at the ground.

Nichkhun chuckled at you and ruffled your hair. “Then ask them in a way so they can’t say no to you.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Corner them? Get each of them alone and make sure you don’t let them go until they agree to go on the blind date.” He grinned lopsidedly at you, and your face came to mirror his.

“Will that work?” you asked.

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, Mary Sue. If anybody can get people to agree to something they don’t want to do, it’s definitely you.”

You beamed at that. You were pretty sure that was a compliment. “Thanks, Nichkhun!” Feeling suddenly motivated, you set off to do just that.

 

You found Jonghyun first, standing with Key by Key’s locker. He took a step back when he saw you approaching, and Key just muttered something to him and walked away. Oh well. You would get to him later.

“Jonghyun, I know you want a girlfriend for Valentine’s Day,” you prefaced.

He gave a wavering smile. “Uh…yeah, I … guess.”

“Well I _know_ ,” you assured. “Because if I know my brother, he’s totally caught up in the pursuit of godly high school popularity and having girls practically falling down at his feet.”

Jonghyun laughed uneasily. “Those days are behind me, Mary Sue,” he said. “I’ve changed a lot this year, and I’ve learned a lot about myself during…all that we’ve been through,” he said, glancing around.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m not that Jonghyun anymore. In…more ways than one.” He faltered, clearing his throat nervously. “More than just…not caring anymore about godly high school popularity.” His eyes met yours in a wide, vulnerable stare. “Please tell me you understand.”

You smiled and put a hand to your heart. “Of course I understand, and thank you so much for telling me,” you said.

“Really?” he said hopefully.

“Yes. You just want to lay low. Make real relationships instead of shallow, fake ones to please people around you.”

Jonghyun sighed. “Exactly.”

“Well, fear no more, because I am the best matchmaker, and you will have your real relationship by this coming Valentine’s Day.”

His smile fell. “No, Mary Sue, I—“

“Sh!” You held up your finger to his face. “The blind date will work. I promise.” You took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. “This is the information. Show up at this place at this time under this reservation. The rest…” You let your hands fall slowly as you pictured sparkles and little hearts falling from the sky. “…will magically fall into place. With the power of love!”

You left him standing dumbfounded.

 

“Krystal!”

She jumped and turned around. “Oh, hi Mary Sue!”

You rocked back and forth on your heels. “So, how is the singing career going?”

She laughed. “Well it’s only been a day, so…”

You raised your eyebrows once and nodded. Okay, enough small talk. You pulled out the paper with the specified time and location for the blind date. “You’ll be here for the blind date, right?”

“I—what?” She stared confusedly at the slip of paper you handed her.

“Great!” you said, grinning. “You’ll thank me for this, I promise.” Then you walked away to complete your mission.

 

When you told Amber about the plans, she just laughed. You laughed with her. She seemed to be laughing a lot lately whenever you brought up your plans to set them up for Valentine’s Day. You wondered if she had liked Jonghyun all along…

“This is the time and place, and you’ll be under this reservation, okay?”

“Whatever you say, Mary Sue,” she said humorously, waving the paper at you to shoo you off.

“Okay!” You turned back once to mutter to her, “Thank you so much for being on board with this, Amber. It seems like you’re the only one. I wish the others wouldn’t be so difficult about all of this.”

Amber snickered. “Well don’t let their insistence to exercise free will deter you from your dream to be a matchmaker,” she responded.

You nodded. “Yeah!” And left her, confidence renewed by her words of encouragement.

 

“Okay,” you began when you had finally cornered Key in the drama hallway. “I know you’re like Keybeneezer Scrooge when it comes to love and happiness, but these are the plans for the blind date and you are going whether you like it or not.”

“I’m not doing the stupid date, Mary Sue,” he said bitterly, handing the paper back to you.

“Why not? Everyone else is going!”

“Did you talk to them already?” he questioned, an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah! Krystal’s going, Amber’s totally on board—“

“What did Jonghyun tell you earlier?”

“Jonghyun’s going on the blind date!” you announced triumphantly.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never explained it, but I have this headcanon that the note-givers just hang out in trees and peer around corners a lot. They have walkie talkies.


	34. Chapter 34

“I hear the salmon’s really good here,” Sungmin murmured, his voice blending in with the low hum of the restaurant.

“What do you think, Mary Sue?” Sunny asked.

“Key…” you muttered distractedly.

“What?”

You tore your eyes away from the entrance to face the three confused pairs of eyes trained on you. “Key…lime pie,” you said, thinking quickly. “For dessert. What do you think?”

Sungmin and Sunny shrugged. “I guess…”

“Wow, you really plan ahead, huh Mary Sue?”

You smiled nervously as they returned to scrutinizing the menu. Chanyeol leaned in beside you, regarding you with concerned eyes. “Are you okay, Mary Sue?”

You nodded quickly. “Yeah. Of course.” And threw in another smile for good measure.

He unsurely went back to the menu, while you focused back on the door. Why wasn’t Key here yet?

Krystal was sitting alone at a small table near the back of the small restaurant. Amber and Jonghyun were both already present at their table on the opposite side. To your relief, they were already engaged in genial conversation. You could see them from your strategic position at the table in the middle of the restaurant, where you sat under the pretense of being on a double date with Chanyeol, Sungmin and Sunny. The plan was foolproof.

Except Key hadn’t shown up yet.

 

“Okay, so,” Amber said, hesitating in order to organize her thoughts. “So your parents think you’re a transvestite”—she held back a laugh and Jonghyun tried not to look too dejected—“Key wants you to tell your parents the truth, but you are afraid to do that because you think your parents will hate you, but at the same time you’re afraid of doing nothing because Key will hate you… Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me, Jjong.”

Jonghyun sighed, this time not even hiding his expression. “Is that all you can say?” He buried his face in his arms.

She sighed in response. “So here’s what I think.” Amber ignored the depressed noises her “blind date” was making. “I think you need to have a little more faith in people. Your parents aren’t going to stop loving you, because they’re your parents. And as for Key, well you must be special if he’s sticking by you, even though you’re not doing what he wants right now. If he didn’t care about you, he would have ditched you a long time ago, because he’s just like that.”

Jonghyun lifted his head to look at Amber. “What if you’re wrong?” he asked pitifully. “What if I tell my parents, and then they disown me or something.” His face fell back onto the table. “I was hoping I could at least get Mary Sue’s support,” he muttered into the fancy tablecloth. “But she has no idea.”

“Have you told her?”

“I tried to…” He looked up at Amber with his chin resting on his folded arms. “It didn’t really work out.”

Amber laughed. “Well, you know Mary Sue. You have to whack her across the head with a piece of information if you want her to understand, and even then you can’t be sure.”

Jonghyun couldn’t help the chuckle that broke through his lips.

 

Key strutted somewhat defiantly into the fancy restaurant, still kind of wanting to just blow the whole thing off, but he didn’t want to leave his “date” hanging, and he also figured Jonghyun would be there with Amber because Mary Sue wasn’t very good at planning. He ran a hand through his well-styled hair and, spotting Krystal sitting alone at one end of the one-roomed restaurant, walked brusquely over there, ignoring Mary Sue conspicuously hiding behind her menu as he passed her table.

“Hi,” he huffed as he sat down.

Krystal looked at him, a somewhat frightened look on her face. “Hi,” she said in return.

“Well,” he said, taking a sip of water. “This is awkward.”

“Yeah,” she agreed with a grimace.

Key looked at her over his stemmed glass, as if he was considering her for something, before taking in a quick breath. “Okay, here’s the deal.” He set down his glass. “We both know what’s going on here. This”—he gestured to the two of them with a spinning motion of his hand—“isn’t going to go anywhere, because we both already have somebody, and the only reason why we’re here right now is because Mary Sue can’t seem to comprehend homosexuality.”

Krystal stared at Key with wide-eyes.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try, fruitlessly no doubt, to talk some sense into Miss Matchmaker over there.”

Krystal nodded as Key stood up from their table. “Okay.”

 

“Well well well.”

Crap.

You slowly lowered the menu you were holding in front of your face. You thought maybe you could pass it off as indecision, but when Key stood beside your table and made himself heard, you knew you couldn’t hide from him any longer.

“Fancy running into you here, Mary Sue,” he said pointedly.

“Yeah,” you agreed. “What a coincidence.” Then you put on your most charming smile.

Key rolled his eyes. “Cut the charade, Cupid. You know this whole plan of yours isn’t going to work, right?”

“Heh.” You glanced around to the confused expressions of the rest of your party. Maybe you should have clued them into what was going on tonight. “What plan?”

“Oh, don’t play innocent with me,” he snapped. “Do you know what your problem is, Mary Sue?”

You just blinked at him as he continued, paying the others no attention.

“You don’t listen to people. You just go off on your own ideas and fantasies with no care about how others are affected. Do I even need to remind you about how many lives you could have ruined with that stunt you pulled during the vampire apocalypse?”

Sunny and Sungmin were both genuinely lost at this point, and you flushed beneath their questioning stares. You couldn’t fathom what Chanyeol was thinking at that moment.

“And now with this whole Valentine’s Day plot of yours, you’re actually messing with people’s personal lives when we all told you to stop because we’re not interested. Do us all a favor, Mary Sue. Please get a clue.”

Then it dawned on you. “Oh, I get it!”

“Do you?” Key countered, disbelieving. “Do you _really_? Because last time you said you got it, you drew a _shipping chart_ in the most inept fashion.”

“No, I get it, Key, I really do!” If you knew anything about Key, you knew that he liked being right, and it was clear to you that the only reason he was making a scene out of this blind date plan of yours was because he didn’t want to admit you were right. “I understand, and there’s no indignity in admitting you’re wrong.”

He looked pleasantly surprised. “Really?” Then he returned to his normal expression. “Let’s hear it then.”

You grinned. “If you really do like Krystal this much, then you need to go back and make this date an awesome one instead of trying to cover up your feelings by making a big deal out of the fact that it was my idea. Go ahead and date her without feeling like you have to hide it. I promise I won’t say ‘I told you so’ and I’ll never pry into your personal life if you want to keep it more private.”

Your deduction must have been dead on, because he stood there with a frozen expression that was completely unreadable. Before anyone could say anything more, however, you heard a loud voice coming from the other side of the room.

“Hey look, it’s Key!” Amber was waving from her and Jonghyun’s table. “Wow, what a coincidence. Are you here with Krystal? I’m here with Jonghyun!” She gestured broadly to her date. “Hey, we should make this a double date and join our tables!”

No! They shouldn’t do that!

“Guess who else is here?” Key responded, just as loudly. “Mary Sue!”

Amber gasped dramatically. “Mary Sue too? What a small world we live in!”

“Microscopic!” Key agreed jovially. “We should all join our tables! What do you think, Mary Sue?” he asked, turning to you. You had begun to sink down in your chair. “Should we join our tables together?”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Sunny chimed in happily. “I can’t believe we ran into you guys here!”

“Surely it’s fate,” Key replied as the others began dragging their tables over.

When everyone was united, you looked around. It was a horribly familiar set up.

“Wow, it’s just like lunch!” Sunny exclaimed.

You resisted the urge to slam your face down on the table.

Just then something caught your eye from a semi-hidden table in the corner of the restaurant. You realized it was Nichkhun gesturing for you to come over. Oh good, at least he was there to help you. Just maybe you could fix this mess of a double date/double blind date, and love would finally prevail!

“Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom,” you said suddenly, and ignored everyone’s stares as you got up from the table and quickly made your way to the shady table in the corner.

 

Chanyeol stared dumbfounded at the table in the corner. Had he just seen what he thought he saw?

“Uh… are you guys seeing this, or am I just hallucinating?” he asked the other table occupants.

“No,” Sungmin answered. “That’s really Mary Sue sitting alone at a table with Nichkhun.”

Chanyeol felt a little dazed. “Nichkhun?”

“He’s like the Don Juan of our school,” Krystal explained. “He’s really romantic, and girls are always fawning over him.”

Now he felt a little nauseous. “Oh.”

“Oh, but don’t worry Chanyeol.” She placed her hands comfortingly on his forearm, but he could barely feel it. “I’m sure she just stopped by to say hi on her way to the bathroom,” she assured.

Chanyeol nodded and tried to smile. Of course she was only saying hi. It’s not like she was on a date with Nichkhun at the same time, right? Right.

It sure was taking them a long time to say hi though.

 

“Everything’s a mess!” you wailed at Nichkhun. “My plan is failing, and none of them are cooperating. Why can’t they all just allow themselves to find happiness and let love in?!”

“Calm down, Mary Sue, it’s okay,” Nichkhun assured you, trying to keep his voice low. “I have a plan.”

You sniffed and looked up at him hopefully. “You do?”

The confident smirk on his face was enough of an answer. “You just need to get them away from each other.”

“How do I do that?” you asked.

He pulled something from inside his jacket and handed it to you. You looked down at it. It was a coupon for two free pairs of rental skates at the skating rink.

“Give that to one couple,” Nichkhun explained.

“But then the other two will just go with—”

“So distract the other two. Get them to leave the room somehow first, and then send the others off to the skating rink.”

Wow, Nichkhun really planned this out, didn’t he?

“Okay,” you said. “How do I do that?”

He seemed thoughtful for a moment, and then his eyes alit upon a passing waiter carrying a tray of drinks. He looked at you with a mischievous glint in his eye. You wondered what he could possibly be thinking.

 

This date wasn’t going the way Chanyeol had imagined it would. Mary Sue, his date and the love of his life, was at another table with this Nichkhun guy, and they were talking and smiling at each other, and he gave her something, and he was smirking, and Chanyeol was sure this guy was way more romantic and dreamy and handsome and everything than Chanyeol could ever live up to.

He continued to stare solemnly at her back, oblivious to the glances of sympathy coming from everyone else at the table.

“Chanyeol,” Key addressed him. “You really deserve so much better than Mary Sue.”

But Chanyeol didn’t want someone better than Mary Sue, he wanted Mary Sue. He sighed dejectedly and tried to stop his lower lip from trembling.

“Chanyeol?” said a voice behind him, and he was slightly surprised to see Baekhyun entering the small restaurant and waltzing to their table with a twinkling grin. “Wow, what are the chances I’d run into you here,” he laughed, helping himself to the empty seat beside Chanyeol.

“What do you mean,” Chanyeol muttered. “You knew I’d be here.”

Baekhyun’s expression morphed perfectly into practiced ignorance. “Mmm, no I don’t believe I did.”

“I told you about the double date tonight, you—“

Baekhyun cut him off with a nervous laugh. “I think you must be mistaken, Chanyeol.” He turned to the person sitting across the table with his most charming smile. “By the way, when I saw you sitting here as well, my heart leapt a little bit I think. Just the sight of you makes this day that much brighter.” Baekhyun took hold of a bashful Sunny’s hand, ignoring the sulking Chanyeol and glaring Sungmin. “You just have this certain quality to you.” His eyes met the ceiling in a thoughtful expression for a moment. “Like a sparkle. No! A twinkle.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes as Sunny giggled, clearly flattered. Baekhyun’s eyes lit up as they fixed on her again. “It lights up everything around you,” he said.

Chanyeol’s and Sungmin’s respective sigh and grunt of immense disapproval did nothing to faze Baekhyun, whose only response was to glance around the restaurant as Sunny took advantage of his shifted attention to shyly withdraw her hand from his grasp.

“Where’s Mary Sue?”

Chanyeol buried his face in his arms. He barely heard Baekhyun’s soft “oh” and figured someone had pointed out the situation.

“Chanyeol?”

He really didn’t want to see Baekhyun’s overly concerned face, but he couldn’t keep himself from looking up when he heard the careful murmur of his name. His best friend’s worried eyes only made whatever this gnawing feeling was in his gut feel worse. Maybe Chanyeol was just a masochist.

In the same way, he couldn’t help but look up when Baekhyun’s attention was visibly stolen. Mary Sue had left Nichkhun’s table and was returning, and Chanyeol couldn’t help but notice that she had never gone to the bathroom. Still, he was hopeful that maybe she was just catching up with a friend and was now returning to her date. But then she did something that left everyone dumbfounded.

She pushed a passing waiter so his tray of drinks toppled and spilled all over Jonghyun and Amber. There were a lot of loud voices in the confusion as the two victims jumped out of their chairs and people started yelling. “What the hell?” “Mary Sue!” and “How could you be so clumsy? Do your job right!” echoed throughout the restaurant.

As Mary Sue ushered the waiter, Amber and Jonghyun away from the table, Chanyeol could do nothing more than sit there, utterly confused and mouth hanging open as he tried to fathom what the hell was going on with Mary Sue.

 

This night was turning out to be pretty weird. And a little awkward too. Sure Jonghyun had been inside a women’s bathroom before, but right now he was trying to avoid all the judgmental looks he was receiving from women while Amber focused on just trying her best to get out wine stains from their clothes with paper towels and soap.

“Well,” she sighed once they were the only two in the bathroom. “This is familiar.”

Jonghyun let out a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, well,” he muttered. “At least this time I’m not wearing a dress.”

 

Now that Amber and Jonghyun were out of the way, you could focus your attention on the Krykey couple. You knew Key was stubborn, but you’ll be damned if they don’t have the most romantic first date ever and fall in love and become that happy couple that you were sure they were destined to be! You had to be clever about this.

“So…” you began. “Raise your hand if your name begins with a ‘K’!”

Everybody stared at you with confused looks, but you just stared pointedly at Key and Krystal. Krystal timidly raised her hand. Key just raised his eyebrows at you, but you took that as an answer anyway.

“Congratulations!” you shouted. “You’ve won the raffle!” You shoved the coupon in front of them.

“Uh…” Key trailed, staring at it.

“Don’t just sit there,” you urged. “Go out and have fun you two!”

“Mary Sue,” Key protested. “This is stupid.”

You didn’t listen to him, just pulled him out of his chair. Krystal awkwardly followed as you ushered them both out of the restaurant and into the chilly air outside.

“But we haven’t even ordered yet!” was the last thing you heard Key yell before you shut the door and scurried back to your table.

You sat back down to silence and looked around. Now it was like you were just on your double date, the way it was supposed to be. Except for the presence of an extra person.

“When did Baekhyun get here?” you asked. The man in question gave you a sweet smile and a little finger wave.

“A while ago,” Chanyeol muttered beside you. He leaned in to talk to you quietly. “Mary Sue, is there something—“

“Hey, where did Key and Krystal go?”

You looked up to see Amber and Jonghyun had returned.

“Oh, they went ice skating together,” you answered cheerily. “You know, like a happy couple on their first date might do if they were totally into each other and going to live happily ever after.”

“That sounds like fun!” Amber said enthusiastically. “Do you want to go ice skating, Jonghyun? I think we should go ice skating.”

“NO!”

Everyone turned to stare at you. You faltered a little bit.

“I-I mean, why?”

Amber sighed. “I thought we might have a good time ice skating,” she answered. “Like a happy couple who are totally into each other and going to live happily ever after.”

“B-but,” you stammered. “The others are… and I mean… you—“

“Ice skating sounds like a total blast!” Sunny interjected.

“I agree!” Baekhyun jumped in. With a glance to Sunny (and a subtle challenging smirk in Sungmin’s direction), he said, “Why don’t we all go?”

You felt like they had all ganged up on you.

“What?!”


	35. Chapter 35

This sucked. You were pouting at a table watching your friends all skating and laughing together, and everyone was ignoring your couple dating restrictions! Amber and Jonghyun had already caught up to Key and Krystal, and the four of them were skating in a group. Sunny was skating between Sungmin and Baekhyun, both of whom had latched onto an arm. And here you were, sitting down and sulking while they all paid you no mind.

 

“Mary Sue?” asked a concerned Chanyeol who had returned to your table.

 

You responded with a deep and pointed sigh, which clouded in front of your face.

 

Chanyeol sat down and pushed a mug of steaming hot chocolate and an éclair toward you. They both looked delicious, but you were in too sour a mood to accept the sweets, so you just sighed again.

 

There was a bit of a tense silence, Chanyeol looking at you with drawn eyebrows and you staring stonily at the skaters.

 

“Did I do something wrong?”

 

You were surprised out of your glare when he said that and turned to him, wide eyes blinking in confusion. His expression was so unsure and sincere. How could he think he had done something wrong? There was no way he could ever do anything wrong. You had no idea how he could even ask such a thing.

 

“No,” you answered honestly, expression much softer than before.

 

He still looked unsure, but he nodded acceptingly.

 

“Chanyeol!” someone called before either of you could say anymore. You both turned to see Baekhyun, now separated from Sungmin and Sunny, waving from the edge of the rink. “Why don’t you come skate?”

 

Chanyeol looked to you, and you smiled. “You go ahead,” you said. “I’ll…finish this off.” You gestured to the food. Which was partly a lie, since you really wanted to keep an eye on the four lovebirds you were trying to match up, and how could you do that if you were distracted by skating?

 

He nodded and somewhat reluctantly got up to join Baekhyun, who beamed at him before practically pulling him by the hand onto the ice.

 

As you took a sip of your hot chocolate, you glared over your cup at the skaters, wondering how you could make them fall in love with each other.

 

“I see you haven’t made any progress.”

 

You jumped at the sudden voice by your ear and turned to see Nichkhun sitting beside you. How did he do that? It was like he had magical powers or something.

 

You sighed out your disgruntlement. “Nothing I do is working. It’s like they all insist on not falling in love with each other just to spite me.” You folded your arms and pouted.

 

“Don’t worry,” Nichkhun said. “I have an idea.”

 

You looked to him expectantly.

 

“Have you ever watched a drama before?”

 

You shook your head.

 

“Well, whenever a female character falls into the arms of the male, they inevitably fall in love,” he explained. “It never fails.”

 

You were a bit skeptical, but Nichkhun assured you once again, “Trust me, it works every time.”

 

“Okay,” you said. “Then how do we get them to fall into each other’s arms?”

 

Your partner in crime shrugged and grinned mischievously. “Trip them,” he said as if it was the obvious answer.

 

You blinked. “Oh,” you said. _Obviously._

 

 

Despite Baekhyun trying his best to cheer him up, Chanyeol still just wasn’t in it. Mary Sue was acting really weird, and he had no idea what was going on. He nearly fell and ran into other skaters multiple times because he kept looking over at her, and now he felt this burning sensation inside when he saw that same guy from the restaurant talking with her at the table. _Nichkhun_.

 

What did that guy want with Mary Sue? And why did she keep talking to him? Why did he keep showing up everywhere??

 

Then they both stood up and made their way to the rink. _Oh,_ Chanyeol thought, _so you’ll skate with Nichkhun and not me?_ His mood just kept spiraling downward.

 

As he kept watching, Chanyeol was flabbergasted to see Mary Sue do something equally as baffling and violent as the last time she had talked to Nichkhun; she started trying to trip up the other skaters!

 

Chanyeol’s mouth hung open in disbelief. Who the hell was this Nichkhun guy and why the was he making Mary Sue try to kill people?

 

_What the hell was going on?_

 

 

After some preliminary practice rounds, you set your eyes on the four skaters who were your real tripping targets. You skated stealthily around the rink, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

 

They were in the perfect formation. Amber and Krystal were skating side-by-side with Jonghyun and Key skating in front of them, and Key was skating backward, showing off his apparent natural skill. You could totally trip Krystal so she would fall into his arms!

 

Moving quickly, you approached swiftly from the side, dug your skate into Krystal’s, and skated as fast as you could to the opposite side of the rink so they wouldn’t notice your presence!

 

But then you turned around and realized you had failed.

 

You didn’t understand it. What went wrong? Instead of Krystal and Key sharing a moment in each other’s arms, you saw Key had landed on top of Jonghyun and Amber was holding Krystal, both of the girls still standing and laughing at the guys on the ice.

 

Oh great, you thought. Now Key and Jonghyun were going to fall in love instead of Key and Krystal!

 

Okay, you knew you were just being ridiculous there. Guys can’t fall in love. What an absurd and unheard of notion!

 

But you were still really annoyed that your tripping plan had failed.

 

“Failure!” you cried when you found Nichkhun again, sitting on a bench near the edge of the surrounding park.

 

Nichkhun looked amused. “What do you mean? I saw it from here, they fell into each other’s arms.”

 

“But they fell into the wrong arms!” you whined. “You said a girl has to fall into a guy’s arms, and then they’ll fall in love. No girls fell!” You flailed your arms in frustration and then sat down on the bench with a sigh. “I’m beginning to think this isn’t gonna work at all.”

 

Your partner in matchmaking leaned forward and put his chin on his hand. “Okay,” he began. “What do you think is the main thing holding these couples back from being…well, couples?”

 

You thought a second. “Well, Amber and Jonghyun seem to be okay. I have hope for them. But _Key,_ ” you huffed. “He’s just a scrooge about this kind of stuff. I think he hates love,” you concluded.

 

Nichkhun chuckled. “So you think if he was happier, their couple would work out?”

 

You shrugged and nodded.

 

“So make him happy.”

 

You thought that was probably the most difficult challenge you’ve had to face so far in your efforts of love. You decided you’d need to call in an expert to help you. An expert on happiness.

 

“Sunny!” you shouted. “Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny! Quick! What makes you happy?!”

 

Sunny blinked at you, along with Sungmin and Baekhyun, who were accompanying her to the café area. You realized that you had probably surprised her with your sudden outburst after running from the complete other side of the park just to ask her this seemingly random question. You were about to explain yourself, but—

 

“Bunnies!” she cut you off.

 

Bunnies. You thought of how you could incorporate bunnies into your plans. All you got was an image of Key being smothered in a pile of soft fluffy rabbits hopping all over the ice… Nah, that would get out of hand really quickly. You shook your head.

 

“What else?” you asked.

 

She put her finger to her chin contemplatively. “Ice cream,” she said.

 

“Ice cream!” You snapped your fingers decisively. “Thanks Sunny!”

 

“No problem!” she beamed. “I love helping you, Mary Sue!”

 

You nodded appreciatively at her and ran to the ice cream stand. “I need ice cream, stat!” you yelled, slamming a few bills down on the counter. The vendor stared at you, a slight tinge of fear in his eyes.

 

“Any particular flavor, miss?”

 

You huffed your bangs out of your eyes. “Whichever flavor makes people the happiest when they eat it. You got anything like that?”

 

He continued to stare. “Uh… well, chocolate has always been our most popular flavor”—

 

“Chocolate ice cream!” you screamed again. “Stat!”

 

The next minute, you were skating as fast as you could in a beeline toward Key, cone in hand.

 

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!” you screeched, as you tore across the rink, cutting through a few linked hands on the way. “KEY!” you shouted once you reached him, and thrust the ice cream in his face.

 

You were met with a stoic eyebrow raise.

 

You suddenly realized how weird this probably seemed. How should you go about explaining this?

 

You went with, “You’re supposed to eat it.”

 

“Mary Sue, I don’t like sweets,” he curtly replied, before skating past you, leaving you standing there awkwardly with the blasted ice cream cone. Leave it to Key to dislike sweets and all things happiness inducing!

 

Well, now what were you supposed to do with this ice cream cone, since it failed to make Key happy and transitively bring happiness to Krystal? Might as well just throw it away, the useless thing.

 

“Ooh, ice cream!” you heard Krystal say as you lobbed it over the side of the rink and into the grass.

 

Defeated, you made your way back to Sunny. She was sitting at a table with two large ice cream cones in either hand, Sungmin and Baekhyun sitting on either side of her. You plopped down in the chair opposite her with a huff.

 

“It didn’t work.”

 

“What didn’t?” she asked between the two cones.

 

“The ice cream. It failed.” You put your face in your hand.

 

“Hm…” Sunny hummed. “Maybe you should try flowers. I’m always happy when I have flowers.”

 

You looked up at her and considered it. “It’s worth a shot, I guess,” you decided, and ventured off to go find some flowers. Thankfully, there was a flower stand nearby, where you quickly bought a bouquet of roses, and then rushed back to the rink again.

 

Scanning the rink for Key, you eventually spotted him, and skated as fast as you could, roses in hand. When you finally reached your friends, you shoved the bouquet in Key’s face much like you had the ice cream cone.

 

Key got a face full of roses, and he suddenly sneezed and started coughing and spluttering. He bent over sneezing, while you and the other three skaters looked on in concern.

 

“I got you these flowers,” you offered.

 

He just waved his hand toward you. “Get those away from me!” he sputtered out, sneezing and sniffling and coughing in between.

 

“But… I thought they might make you happy,” you explained.

 

He shook his head vigorously. “I’m _allergic!_ ”

 

You watched dejectedly as Jonghyun and Amber helped Key off the rink and over to the café area to sit down. Well this was just great. Leave it to Key to be allergic to happiness!

 

“Who are the flowers for?”

 

You turned to face Nichkhun, who was leaning against the side of the rink watching you.

 

“Nobody,” you muttered unhappily.

 

“So…” He stared at the bouquet. “Can I have them then?”

 

You just handed him the bouquet wordlessly. What were you going to do with them anyway?

 

 

 _Oh, she’s giving him flowers now too,_ Chanyeol thought sulkily, glaring at Nichkhun from across the rink as the pretty boy took the bouquet and skated off somewhere. Chanyeol was really beginning to hate that guy.

 

 

About ready to give up, you moped back to Sunny, who was now inexplicably surrounded by two extravagant bouquets.

 

“Did the flowers work?” she asked you innocently. You shook your head in response. “Hm…” She brought her finger to her chin in a thoughtful expression. “You know,” she offered, “hugs always make me feel better when I’m down.”

 

“Really?” you asked hopefully.

 

“Yeah!” she answered excitedly.

 

You nodded. “Okay, I’ll try that. Thanks so much, Sunny!” you said as you returned to the rink.

 

“No problem!” she called after you. “I really hate seeing Mary Sue upset,” Sunny said after you left, heaving a big sigh. “I hope she feels better.” Her face morphed into a thoughtful pout and she stared down at the table. But then two pairs of arms wrapped around her and she brightened immediately. “Aww, you guys really know what to do to make me feel better!” she said, oblivious to the glares being thrown over her shoulder between Sungmin and Baekhyun.

 

 

You shuffled up to the small table your friends were sitting at, stepping up to Key like a puppy crawling on its belly to an angry cat.

 

“Key?” you addressed him meekly, alerting him of your presence.

 

He glared up at you. “What is it now, Mary Sue? I’m pretty sure you’ve filled your daily quota of torture for me.”

 

 _This better work,_ you thought meekly and, without further warning, threw yourself around Key and wrapped your arms tightly around him. He stiffened immediately. It didn’t seem to be having the desired effect on him, so you took it up a notch and nuzzled his shoulder.

 

“Get _off_ of me!” he ordered, shoving you away. “I have had it with you and your ridiculous shenanigans, Mary Sue!”

 

You stood there in slight shock, with no idea how to respond to that. The shocked expressions on your friends’ faces showed they didn’t know either.

 

“You have no real consideration for other people’s feelings,” he continued, “but nobody else tells you this because you hide it under your façade of _helping people_. Well, now I’m telling you. We don’t _need_ your _help!”_

 

You had nothing to say to that, so you just took it all in.

 

“You think just because you’re the main character”—

 

“Key”—Amber tried to interject.

 

 “—that everything needs to go your way, and everyone will live happily ever after. Well, you’re wrong, Mary Sue! What you’ve been doing,” he gestured vaguely at your person, “has only been making everyone miserable. Have you even _looked_ at Chanyeol today?”

 

You glanced over at Chanyeol, who was leaning against the ice rink. He quickly turned his face away from you and folded his arms.

 

“Why don’t you do everyone a favor today, Mary Sue,” Key kept on. “Leave us all alone.”

 

Oh. You looked around at everyone’s silent expressions. _Oh._

 

You didn’t realize what a burden you were being to everybody. Without a word, you turned away from your group of friends—who apparently all hated you this whole time—and stalked away from the ice rink and into a random shady patch of trees on the edge of the park.

 

 

“Hey.”

 

Chanyeol jumped at the husky voice close to his ear and instinctively moved away. His expression soured when he saw who it was. _Nichkhun._ “What do you want?” he asked bitterly.

 

Nichkhun handed him the bouquet of flowers he was holding, the flowers which, Chanyeol noted, Mary Sue had given him. Chanyeol wasn’t really sure how to take them. “Here, would you like these lovely flowers?” Nichkhun asked robotically.

 

“Why are you giving them to me? Mary Sue gave them to _you.”_

 

Nichkhun just chuckled. The sound grated against Chanyeol’s ears. “You’re a lucky guy.”

 

Chanyeol gave him a strange look. “I am?” The other nodded, and didn’t say anything else. “W-why am I lucky?” he prodded.

 

“Because,” he began, looking down at the flowers, which Chanyeol still hadn’t accepted. “The person you love,” he placed the bouquet in Chanyeol’s hands, “loves you back.” His face morphed into a smile that gave away everything he was feeling. “She’s head over heels for you. I wish I could say the same thing.”

 

Well. This admittedly wasn’t what Chanyeol expected from this guy. Man, how was he supposed to hate him _now?_ He just kind of felt sorry for Nichkhun, he looked like a sad puppy that nobody took home. Sighing, he placed the bouquet back in Nichkhun’s hands, like he had done before. “You can keep the flowers,” he said gently.

 

“Why?” the other asked.

 

Chanyeol smiled wistfully. “I already have my flower.” He broke out into a huge grin that Nichkhun couldn’t help but chuckle at.

 

Yeah, maybe Nichkhun wasn’t so bad after all.

 

 

It was dark and cold and wet and your breath fogged before you and the trees cast darker shadows over the already dark darkness.

 

You’d never felt so…unwanted.

 

Usually everybody loved you! But it turned out it was the exact opposite. Your whole life was a lie!

 

Right when you were thinking it would probably be best for you to just disappear somehow, you were surprised out of your fast-paced hike of feels by a figure that just came out of nowhere. There was something strangely familiar about this situation…

 

The figure stepped forward into a patch of pale moonlight and your eyes lit up in… some sort of half recognition. You could swear you had seen this person once before…maybe. You just couldn’t put your finger on where or when that might have been.

 

Before you could say anything, however, more figures dropped out of nowhere and surrounded you, and there was also something familiar about the way they just began to close in on you.

 

Then you felt something hit the back of your head, and the familiar rush of passing out.

 

Some time later, you awoke in a very dimly lit place surrounded by people you didn’t really know and wow this was an extremely familiar situation and the first thing that came out of your mouth was, “Oh god, no, the vampires are back!”

 

Everyone just kinda stared at you, some with raised eyebrows. You looked around self-consciously.

 

“N-no?” you stuttered. “Not vampires?” They all continued to look perplexed by your outburst. “Okay…Why am I here then?” you asked. Might as well get straight to the point.

 

“You’re not…scared?” one guy asked from the corner.

 

You just shrugged, albeit barely considering how constricting the bonds around your arms were. “This isn’t exactly a new experience for me,” you said nonchalantly.

 

The guy’s eyes widened, and you realized just how young he looked. “This has happened to you before?”

 

“Yeah,” you answered, smiling a bit. “This one time—“

 

“Shut up,” rang out a sharp voice, and the young guy recoiled, his eyes following the source to a person who stepped into the center of the room.

 

This was the first person you saw in the park, and they still looked so familiar. Your eyes narrowed a bit as you scrutinized the delicate features, the blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and the massive amounts of eyeliner… and then it hit you.

 

“Oh!” you exclaimed excitedly, and the person’s eyebrow raised at you. “I know you! You’re New Girl!”

 

New Girl rolled her eyes and she delved a hand into the deep pocket of her leather jacket, pulling out a shiny pocket knife and flipping the blade out. She approached you slowly, heels clicking on the floor, and then crouched down in front of you, holding the knife up to your face and tracing it along your cheek.

 

“My name is Ren,” she said simply.

 

Ren? But wasn’t that the name of…

 

Suddenly all the pieces started coming together in a rush of epiphany and you felt like your eyes might just pop out of your head at the information.

 

Ren?? The gang leader who had just been released from juvie?? New Girl was Ren and Ren was the person who had been sending you all those messages and they were both the same person??

 

“What?!”


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mild violence and blatant overuse of lyrics as dialogue.

Wait a second. Wasn’t Ren a guy? Ren and New Girl couldn’t be the same person. Unless…

“Ren’s a girl?” Maybe you had just assumed Ren was a guy when you’d heard about him. Didn’t everyone else refer to him as a guy though? Maybe you’d heard wrong.

Ren rolled his or her eyes. “I’m not a girl,” he or she said.

That cleared that up. Ren was not New Girl because Ren was not a girl. They had to be different people. They looked so much alike though…

“Do you have a twin sister?”

He rubbed his temples, clearly annoyed by your trivial questions. “No. Are you really this stupid?” he muttered to himself.

“Then who was that girl I ran into that day?” you wondered aloud.

“That was me.” He stared you directly in the eye with his dead glare. Yep, that was definitely the same look she had given you.

Ren was New Girl but Ren was a guy? No. The pieces did not fit. You could not put them together in your head. So you shook it. “That’s impossible,” you argued.

“Oh my god…” He put his face in his hand and rubbed his eyes. “You idiot, I was never a girl. You just assumed I was.”

You tried to process this information.

…

OH! Oh… Oh.

So New Girl wasn’t a girl either. Now it made sense.

You should probably stop thinking of her but really him as New Girl. It was really throwing you off.

 

“Where did Mary Sue go?” Chanyeol asked, walking up to the four people he just saw her talking to.

Amber regarded him with a hesitant expression. “She”—

“Who cares?!” Key exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “It’s not here, and we’re all better off for it.”

“She went off through the trees over there,” Krystal informed him gently.

Chanyeol nodded a thanks in her direction and started toward the trees, when he felt a pull on his arm. Nichkhun was giving him a sympathetic look.

“Maybe it’s best,” he said gently, “if you just let her cool off for a bit.”

Chanyeol regarded him a bit skeptically. He really just wanted to go talk to her and figure out what’s been going on with her. After all, the last time he left things unsaid between them, she wandered directly into the clutches of an entire clan of vampires. But maybe Nichkhun was right. He didn’t want to be overbearing. After all, it’s not like that kind of thing could happen again, right?

 

“So you were always a guy,” you clarified.

“Yes.”

You chewed your lip for a moment. “The whole time?”

“God damn it.” Ren stood up in exasperation. “Yes, the whole time!”

“Okay.”

He raised an eyebrow at you silently.

You drew in a cautious breath. “So you were never a girl.”

“Are we going to be stuck on this point forever?” Ren huffed. “Wouldn’t you rather know why you’re here?”

“Oh yeah,” you conceded. “I didn’t think about that.”

About a dozen people raised their eyebrows at you, and you looked around self-consciously.

“What, this happens a lot, okay?”

You watched them exchange looks with each other before turning back to Ren.

“Why am I here?”

He crouched down in front of you again and spoke slowly. “To teach you your place.”

“My place?”

“In the social order.”

You laughed. He clearly didn’t know who you were. “I know you weren’t here during last semester or anything, but I changed the social order when I moved to this school.”

“You did?” asked the guy in the corner, looking bewildered.

Another guy who was lounging lazily on a big leather couch scoffed. “Who ever heard of the New Girl changing the status quo?”

You looked back to Ren, whose mouth was turned up in a very subtle yet very disconcerting smirk. He twirled his knife close to your face and traced the blade along your chin. “We’re not swayed by cliques and popularity contests. In this gang, we run the social order from underground.”

You frowned. “Well I’ve spent a lot of time underground, and”—

“Shut up.”

You obeyed.

“Your place,” he continued, “is beneath me. And to teach you a lesson about respect, ‘New Girl’, you’re going to do as I say.”

“But…why?”

He grinned. “Because now that I have you, I’m going to keep you.” He leaned close to your face and murmured, “As my woman slave.”

“Woman slave?” you repeated, eyes widening. He wanted you to stay and work for him? You didn’t know what to think. Your heart was starting to beat a little faster. You had never felt so… so…

 _Needed_.

 

You know that feeling where you’re stuck and no matter which way you turn, you feel like there’s no way out? That’s totally how Jonghyun was feeling. Not only did Mary Sue not understand what he’d been trying to tell her for so long, but she was actively contradicting it.

His identical twin sister didn’t realize his feelings—weren’t twins supposed to do that automatically?—giving Jonghyun no hope for his parents accepting him, and on top of it, his sort-of-unofficial-boyfriend-but-also-his-best-friend hated his sister. Both of the people he cared most about couldn’t get along, and both were expecting him to be two opposing people.

Woah… suddenly Donghae’s interpretations of all those abstract paintings in chapter nine made sense. So this was how Donghae had felt. And to think Jonghyun used to kind of envy him, but now he had a sense of what he’d been going through.

Jonghyun sighed, which didn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“Maybe we should go home soon,” Amber suggested. “It’s getting a little late after all.”

“Mary Sue isn’t back yet though,” said Jonghyun, ignoring the flat “Who cares?” he heard from Key. “We can’t leave without her.”

He noticed Chanyeol’s uneasy expression. “I should go look for her,” he said.

“No!”

Everyone turned to look at Nichkhun.

“I mean… I’ll go with you. It’s getting late, it’d be better if you had my help.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol responded warily. “Good idea.”

 

“Okay, I don’t know all of your names.”

“You don’t need to know our names,” Ren quickly snipped.

“Uh, if I’m going to be your ‘woman slave’ or whatever you’re calling it,” you retorted, adopting a sassy authoritative tone, “I’m going to need to know what to call you.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue any further, so you grinned.

“So how about we go in a circle and introduce ourselves one by one, and say something about yourself, like your favorite ice cream flavor or something?”

You watched as they all exchanged slightly perplexed looks. “Why our favorite ice cream flavor?” the kid in the corner asked.

“So I have something to remember you by,” you answered as if it was obvious. “Here, I’ll go first to get the ball rolling. I’m Mary Sue, and I like strawberry ice cream. Alright next we’ll go with… you.” You nodded your head in the direction of the kid in the corner, since he was to your immediate right and also since you were still tied up so you couldn’t point with your hands.

He looked rather put on the spot and he straightened up, glancing around nervously. “Uh… I’m Zelo… I like… chocolate?”

You nodded and smiled encouragingly. “Very good. Alright, next?” You looked to someone who was leaning against the wall.

“Seyong,” he said with a smirk and an upward nod. “And my favorite flavor is coffee.”

Next was the guy who was lounging on the couch. He took the time to throw his feet onto the floor and sit up for his introduction, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees in a casual hunch. “Name’s Zico.” He spat it like a lyric. “And my taste buds scream for mint chocolate chip,” he said earnestly, speaking with animated hand gestures.

You looked at the next guy, who was sitting on the floor leaning against the couch. “Hey,” he said casually with a slight smile. “I’m Eli, and I’m a vanilla kind of guy.”

“A-yo, the name’s G-Dragon,” said a guy with obviously bleached blond hair, stealing your attention before you could respond. “GD,” he continued, “your G-Spotter, Captain G Sparrow—“

“Shut up,” cried a clearly exasperated Zico as he lobbed a pillow at G-Dragon’s head.

“Let me introduce myself,” G-Dragon snapped back at him.

“You’re not eight people!” You noticed Eli shaking his head and chuckling as Zico twisted his position on the couch so he could yell at his fellow gang member. “You wanna continue? Because next thing I’m throwing is my shoe.”

GD just smirked and held his arms akimbo, pillow dangling from one hand. “Your choice,” he remarked cheekily. “Drop it on me.”

Sensing a rise in temper from Zico, you blurted out loudly, “It’s nice to meet you G-Dragon, what’s your favorite ice cream flavor!” This seemed to have the desired effect, as Zico settled back down into the couch and turned away sulkily.

GD’s gaze turned to you, his smirk still plastered to his face. “Cookie dough,” he remarked as he lazily tossed the pillow back to the couch. Zico grumbled and grabbed it with both hands, jamming it to the back of his head and laying back down on the couch, propping his feet up and crossing his arms.

You smiled and nodded, finally turning to Ren, whose expression seemed far stonier than it was a few minutes ago.

“Well? What about you?”

“I refuse to believe you forgot my name already,” he grit out.

“No no,” you laughed. “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”

He just rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter.” With that he stalked out of the room, leaving you and the other gang members looking after him and exchanging bewildered and slightly concerned expressions.

“What’s his deal?” Zico muttered aloud. Eli gazed after Ren and shrugged.

 

“How are we gonna find Mary Sue around here?” Chanyeol asked Nichkhun as he tried to squeeze between two large tree trunks. Somehow, to Chanyeol’s bamboozlement, what he thought was just a little gathering of trees in the park seemed to become a thick crowded forest. And Mary Sue was nowhere to be found.

“She has to be somewhere around here,” Nichkhun reassured, pausing to step over a large root. “Unless of course… she went back already.”

“So, we just missed her?” Chanyeol asked.

“I’m not saying we did for sure, I’m just saying, you know,” he shrugged at Chanyeol. “What if?”

“Should we go back?”

“Well, I don’t know, probably.”

“But what if we go back, and she’s not there?” Chanyeol thought worriedly.

“I dunno, what if?” Nichkhun threw back.

“What if she’s lost?”

Nichkhun looked at Chanyeol like he was ridiculous. “Are you serious right now?”

He was answered with a wide-eyed nod.

“I highly doubt she’s lost, this place isn’t that big.” He kept going through the trees.

“What if a branch fell on her head?”

Nichkhun whipped around to stare at the other member of his search party. “What?!”

“And she’s knocked out, and we’re her only hope for survival, and we’re just mere yards away from her, and we go back, and nobody ever finds her, and she’s out here all night, and she freezes to death? WHAT IF THAT?!”

Chanyeol was promptly sedated with a punch to the face. “I dunno,” Nichkhun said to the suddenly limp body lying face down in the snow. “What if?”

 

“You know, for a gang, you guys aren’t really all that… unified,” you remarked after Ren had left.

“What do you mean?” asked Zelo.

You looked around at the sulking Zico and smirking G-Dragon, at Seyong who had barely done anything but watch from off to the side, and back in the direction Ren had stalked off in. “I’ve only been here for a little while, and I can already see some rifts,” you said. “You all should try to build up your trust a little more.”

“Why should we do that?” Zico demanded sourly.

You scoffed. “If I’m going to be your ‘woman slave,’ I want to make sure that everyone here is getting along. Now untie me.”

A few of them chuckled, but you kept your composure.

“What makes you think we’re just gonna untie you?” Eli remarked with a small grin.

You smiled widely. “Because I _trust_ ,” you answered with clear emphasis, “that you will. You see? Life is much more relaxing if you trust each other!”

You waited patiently for a moment before Eli got up and came to untie you.

“What are you doing?” Seyong said with just an ounce of alarm.

“Relax,” Eli said, smirking as the binds fell away. “She’s harmless.”

You smiled gratefully and stood up, shaking the tension out of your arms. “Okay,” you addressed the five gang members before you. “Stand up.”

They all more or less complied, stepping forward a little bit in a rough circle around you.

“You too, Zico,” you added. He was still lying defiantly on the couch with an arm over his eyes.

“Fuckin”— He huffed and reluctantly stood up, tossing his legs over and slouching in front of you. “What are you trying to do?”

“We’re going to do trust exercises!” you exclaimed, clasping your hands together.

 

The four friends waited around the café table with varying degrees of nervousness, except for Key who honestly didn’t give a shit whether Mary Sue came back or not. “Her absence would make this plotline so much more tolerable,” was his argument, but Amber chided him, saying, “She’s the main character, you know we can’t have a story without her.”

Jonghyun just wanted his sister to come back. He was worried about her.

As if on cue, a familiar figure emerged from the darkness of the surrounding park, and Nichkhun approached them all casually.

“Did you find her?” Jonghyun asked right away. “Where’s Chanyeol?” He glanced toward Baekhyun, who was skating with Sunny and Sungmin, vaguely knowing he’d be worried that his best friend hadn’t come back. But Nichkhun quickly eased those fears.

“We found Mary Sue,” he explained.

“Then where are they?” Amber asked. “Why is it just you here?”

“She was tired,” he continued, “and Chanyeol decided to just take her home.”

“Are you kidding me?” Key interrupted. “He just took her home?” He made a sweeping gesture with his arms. “Just, from the park, without even returning their skates or anything, they just—you know what, never mind, I don’t even care.”

Jonghyun waited for Key to be done before turning back to Nichkhun. “So she’s safe then?”

Nichkhun nodded, and Key snorted and shook his head, muttering something about gullible idiots.

Amber sighed, looking around at her tired friends. “Maybe we should all go home too then.”

“Yes!” Key exclaimed, standing up. “Good idea! Let’s believe the character who clearly has questionable motives and just leave our—no, I don’t care,” he stopped himself, holding up his hands in surrender. “I’m done trying to interfere with the inevitable plotline.”

The others stared at him blankly. “Alright then, so it’s decided,” Amber said.

Krystal beckoned the other three on the ice, and the seven of them made their way out. Jonghyun couldn’t wait to get home where his sister was waiting for him, probably already in her bed.

 

After demonstrating your unbounded trust for all people by falling backward into the arms of each of the five gang members, you then had them all pair up and do the “Trust Fall” exercise together. They seemed to be doing okay, even with their varying levels of reluctance, until Zico and G-Dragon were paired up.

“Nope.” Zico crossed his arms decisively, effectively closing himself off to the idea of any bodily contact with G-Dragon.

“Oh come on, Zico,” you encouraged. “This is an opportunity to break down the walls between you two, form a working bond and embrace the camaraderie of gang membership together!”

“I don’t care what kind of beautiful bromance you’re expecting to come of this stupid ‘Trust Fall,’ but I’m not interested,” he insisted.

GD just folded his arms and leaned back with a smirk. “Why so serious?” he asked.

You could see the vein popping in Zico’s neck, and the other members who were there had stopped their trust falling to watch the argument.

“RRRRRAUGH—“

 

“Okay,” you said once you were all sitting down again, Zico and GD at a safe distance further than arms’ length so Zico couldn’t strangle him again. “Clearly there are some unsettled issues between you two.”

Zico scoffed and GD smirked.

You cleared your throat. “So… Maybe we should just talk about them? Try to clear the air a bit?”

“What is this, couple’s therapy?”

“Yes,” you answered sternly. “We’re going to sit here until you two talk out your feelings.”

Zico fisted his hands in his hair in frustration and fell back on the couch.

“Erm,” Seyong spoke up with a hint of an amused grin tugging at his lips. “Why don’t we just let ‘em punch out their feelings?”

“Yes!” Zico stood up eagerly. “This I can get behind. Unf!”

G-Dragon stood too, grinning wolfishly. “Get back,” he threatened.

“Nah man, I’mma come _forth_ ,” Zico retorted, taking a challenging step toward his adversary. “How do you want it?”

GD leaned forward and narrowed his eyes, their faces close together, and said softly, “You and me, hardcore.” He quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head cockily. “Till you say no more.”

Zico threw the first punch.

 

“Okay,” you said once everyone was sitting down again—breathing heavily and covered in bruises and scrapes, and GD’s lip was bleeding like a rare steak, but sitting nonetheless. “Do you feel better now that you’ve fought out some pent up aggression?”

The two in question just glared at each other from across the seating area.

“Alright, um,” you clasped your hands together, thinking hard. “What if we all just go around in a circle”—

“Fuck that circle nonsense!” Zico exclaimed bitterly.

You hardened your jaw, offended. “The circle isn’t the problem here, _Zico_. It’s only trying to help bring unity—“

“ _Unity_?” He raised his eyebrows incredulously. “How can there be _unity_ in this goddamn comm _unity_ , when Captain G-String ticks me off at every opport _unity_!”

“Mad rhyming skills aside,” you began, ready to scold him about his refusal to cooperate.

“Hold up,” G-Dragon interrupted you, lifting his index finger at Zico. “Na na na na na.”

You could feel the tension rise to a boil as the former stood to tower over the latter. “I’m the G,” GD corrected, temper flaring, “to the D. Gold ‘n’ Diamonds, boy!”

“Alright, motherfucker, I can’t take this anymore!” Zico rose to eye level with GD. “You want more of me? Huh?”

“You and me, hardcore,” GD said again, leaning in to whisper, “Let’s do it some more.”

You couldn’t even tell who hit first that time.

 

“Hey,” came a hazy whisper. “Chanyeeool…” it cooed. He felt a light slapping on his cheeks and his eyes gradually opened. Everything was dark and blurry, until it finally sharpened into Nichkhun’s face hovering over his. “Are you alright buddy?” he asked.

Chanyeol sat up, with a little help from Nichkhun. He rubbed his aching head. “What happened?”

“A branch fell on your head,” was the answer.

“Huh?”

“I know it seems unlikely, but yeah. Look,” he pointed to a broken branch that was next to where Chanyeol’s head was.

Wow, looks like a branch actually did fall on Chanyeol’s head. Huh. What were the odds of that happening? Chanyeol might have tried to answer that question if the idea of math wasn’t a painful one right now.

“Where’s Mary Sue?” he asked, looking around. “Did you find her?”

“Yeah,” Nichkhun nodded reassuringly. “Yeah, she was just here in fact. You just missed her.”

“I did?”

“She said she was tired though, so she left to go home with the others.”

“She did?” That didn’t sound right to Chanyeol. “Wasn’t she worried about me?”

“Well, maybe a little bit,” Nichkhun responded, making a face that said it was highly unlikely that she cared at all. “Don’t worry, I told her I’d make sure you were safe.”

That didn’t console him at all though. Was Mary Sue mad at him? Did she really not care? What if she didn’t love him anymore?! Chanyeol’s life was completely over!

“Come on buddy, let’s get you home,” the other said, giving Chanyeol’s cheek a friendly pat that sent a sharp jolt of pain through his face.

“Ow,” he muttered, holding his hand up to the sore spot. “Why does my face hurt?”

“Oh, uh, that was…” Nichkhun snapped, looking for the answer. “Mary Sue!”

“Mary Sue?”

“Yeah, she tripped over your face as she was leaving,” he said nonchalantly.

Chanyeol suddenly felt so ignored, and uncared for, and low, and hurt, and so… so many emotions that he could only express in one monosyllabic utterance.

“What?!”


	37. Chapter 37

“Mary Sue?” asked a vague, muffled voice floating somewhere above your head.

You couldn’t bring yourself to respond to it just yet. Maybe it would go away.

“Mary Sue?” it persisted. It seemed to be closer this time, and much less audially blurry.

“Mmmrm?” you mumbled a response into the darkness, maybe.

“Hey,” said the increasingly louder voice. “Wake up.”

You opened your eyes. Nichkhun was standing over you, illuminated mostly by the snow. He smiled when he saw your eyes.

“Welcome to the world, Sleeping Beauty,” he remarked, holding out a hand to you.

You took his hand and sat up, head spinning and throbbing. “What happened?” you groaned, holding a hand to your head to make the world stop moving around so much. It was cold and dark and you were lying on the hard ground in the wet snow.

Nichkhun furrowed his eyebrows, watching you with a concerned expression. “You don’t remember?” he asked cautiously.

You tried to think back to what might have gotten you here, but you couldn’t get anything to come to your mind other than throbbing pain. After debating whether it would hurt more to shake your head or just say no, you went with the former and instantly regretted it. Your head wobbled and made you even dizzier than you already were.

“What happened after you stormed off?” the boy asked. “Did you get hit by a branch or something?”

You stormed off? Wait, you remember that. Wandering off on your own. And then being apprehended by gang members and being taken to their hideout…

 

You had just tried to break up yet another fist fight between Zico and G-Dragon over their staunch mutual hatred of each other when you and the rest of the gang were startled into a frozen alert silence by a loud angry voice.

“What the hell is going on??” Everyone’s heads immediately whipped toward the door, where Ren stood stiffly, expression livid and an intimidating atmosphere surrounding him. He strode swiftly to the two who had been fighting, dragging them up to standing by their collars, and then started picking up various things that had been knocked from their places by the tussle.

“So, Slave,” he addressed you without looking at you. “You think you can just make yourself at home here and tear us apart from the inside? Think again.” Then he looked you in the eye, straightening up to face you with one of the lamps that had fallen hanging from his grip. “When we need you here again, you’ll know. Until then,” he said, raising the lamp high, and your eyes widened but you didn’t have time to react. “Good night, Princess.”

 

You rubbed your eyes, trying to remember anything after that, but all that filled the space between that moment and this one was darkness and that sharp thud of pain. But it wasn’t difficult to infer what had happened.

You glanced back up at Nichkhun, who was still regarding you with concern. “Do you remember?” he asked again.

You thought a moment. You couldn’t tell Nichkhun anything about the gang. It was much safer just going with the other answer. “Yeah,” you said. “I got hit by a branch, I think.”

There wasn’t a branch anywhere near you, but hey, anyone could have dragged it away somewhere after it fell on you. Like a deer or something.

He didn’t question you at all however and just nodded and pulled you upright. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

“What about everyone else?” you asked as you stood upright and started walking beside him, leaning into him because of your weak wobbly legs.

“They went home,” he said simply.

“They…what?” Didn’t they care about you at all?

“Yeah, they all got tired and left.”

“But… weren’t they worried at all about me?”

Nichkhun looked at you with an open and honest expression. “Nobody even mentioned you after you left,” he said. “They just decided to go home.”

You stared ahead and pouted. So they never even cared about you. Ever. Nichkhun was the only person who came looking for you.

You guessed you knew who your real friends were now.

 

You walked through the cafeteria with your tray of food the next day at lunch. You were about to go to your table, the route second nature to you, when you saw your friends. Or rather, who you _thought_ were your real friends. You stopped short, standing in the middle of the room at somewhat of a loss for where to go.

Then you saw Nichkhun sitting at the former popular table where you used to sit. He met your eyes and gave you a warm smile. You pivoted yourself in that direction, oblivious to the expressions of concern, confusion, and vague hurt on your usual table occupants’ faces.

“I-is it okay if I sit here?” you asked in a meek voice from beside Himchan.

He whipped around to face you, eyes somewhat wide. “Y-you want to sit here?” He seemed a bit flustered, and his cheeks were getting red, and you thought maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. These people didn’t seem to want you here either.

“Of course you can sit with us,” assured Nichkhun’s smooth voice. He indicated you sit right next to him, which you gladly did, relieved to have friendly, welcoming company.

“Wow,” Fei uttered, raising an eyebrow. “Do my eyes deceive me? Or has the Mary Sue graced us with her presence?”

Gee, you hadn’t realized how much Fei looked up to you.

“What brings you back here?” AJ asked, his soulful eyes boring into yours. “Was your other table not good enough?”

You glanced back at your other table to see your friends all talking to each other, glancing at you. Probably all talking about how much they hated you. You turned back to AJ and answered him with a simple shake of the head.

“A testament to your loyalty,” Fei hissed under her breath, and AJ chuckled quietly. You didn’t bother to try and figure out what she meant by that, instead focusing on the string cheese you were shoving in your mouth.

 

“It’s official,” Chanyeol sighed, burying his face into his hands. “Mary Sue doesn’t love me anymore.”

“It’s okay Chanyeol,” Krystal consoled, rubbing his shoulder. “I mean, Nichkhun’s like a total Casanova, it’s nearly impossible for anybody to compete with him. So don’t feel bad.”

Chanyeol’s head sunk into his arms until his face made contact with the table. “Thanks Krystal,” he muttered.

“Does this mean we’re not the popular table anymore?” Sunny asked in a quivering voice, as Sungmin wrapped his arm around her.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Amber said. “I’m sure there’s something going on with Mary Sue that we don’t know about.”

“Yeah,” Krystal nodded. “She could be dating Himchan instead of Nichkhun.”

Chanyeol lifted his head slightly. “Himchan?”

Krystal nodded. “He and Mary Sue totally had a thing before you came along,” she explained. “They used to be the hottest couple at Mordney High. I could totally see them getting back together.” She gasped suddenly. “Do you think she’s dating both of them?”

Chanyeol’s expression became even more pitiful. “Both?”

“She has a history of two-timing people, and she could totally get any guy she wants. I wonder if either of them knows she’s cheating on them!”

Jonghyun sighed from the other side of the table. “I’m just really worried about her,” he said. “It’s not like her to act like this. All secretive. She used to tell me everything.” He stared off toward her at the other table, where everyone was laughing after something she said. She was always the life of the conversation. “I just hope she’s alright,” Jonghyun said.

“NGAAAAAAAAHH!!!” Key suddenly pounded his fists on the table, making everyone jump. “Why does everything have to revolve around Mary Sue?! Even when she’s not here,” he ran his hands up through his hair and pulled on the sides, “she’s still here!! I can’t take it anymore!!” With that, he stood up suddenly, knocking his chair over, then kicked it even further as he stormed out of the cafeteria.

 

You glanced over just as Key stormed through the cafeteria doors. You wondered what was wrong with him. You hoped he was okay… Wait, what did you care? He probably hated you anyway. You tore your eyes away from that direction and looked around at the people sitting around you, all wrapped up in their own conversations that you weren’t part of. Yes, this was where you belonged. You were with your real friends now.

 

That night, you showed up at the gang’s hideout and strolled on into the room where you found the gang playing pool. They all were pretty surprised to see you, which you noticed, and you held up the note you had received that day in explanation.  
(“Redwood Park, 9 o’clock this  
Evening, make sure  
No one follows”)

“What are you doing here?” Eli asked incredulously.

“You guys wanted me to show up, right?” you replied.

“Yeah,” Seyong cut in. “At that location. At nine o’clock. It’s five and you’re here.”

You shrugged. “I had nothing better to do. Besides, what kind of woman slave would I be if I didn’t show up early?”

“How did you find this place?” Zelo asked.

You looked up in thought. “Hm… I don’t remember,” you mused. “It just made sense to me that a gang hideout might be in a warehouse on the dingy outskirts of town. Anyway, it doesn’t matter much. I’m here now.” You smiled around at everyone. “I brought soda!”

Everyone seemed to relax and gathered around you. “Alright, soda!” You grinned as you handed out the bottles and got everyone sitting around on the couches.

“So I noticed something the last time I was here,” you said as you looked around at them. “And that’s that as fellow gang members, there seems to be a major lack of respect around here.”

You waited for a response, but they were all silent, some nodding and some staring down at the floor as they listened, tapping their fingers on their bottles of soda.

You cleared your throat and continued. “So today that’s what we’re gonna work on. Respect. Okay?”

There seemed to be no objections.

“Great! So to start this, how about we each name something about at least one other person that we just can’t stand. For example, I really hate it when people that I thought were my friends completely betray me and apparently never cared about me all along.”

The gang all seemed pretty bewildered at your statement, which you barely noticed.

“But,” you continued, “I _respect_ their choice and decided to leave them alone because I can tell when I’m not wanted.” You smiled around at them. You felt better already! “Now it’s your turn. How about you, Eli?”

 

The sun was going down as Jonghyun entered his house. It seemed empty. His parents weren’t anywhere downstairs, and as he passed Mary Sue’s room on the way to his own he saw that she wasn’t home either. He was seriously beginning to worry about her. Where would she be at this time of night, if not somewhere with her friends or Chanyeol, and he knew she wasn’t with any of them.

He wished she would just talk to him and be honest with him. That was what always kept their relationship strong. Being honest with each other, telling each other everything. Why couldn’t she see that now?

When he opened his bedroom door, his parents were waiting for him. His mother was sitting on the edge of his bed, and his father stopped pacing and looked at him as Jonghyun entered the room. “What’s going on?” he asked warily.

His mother stood up and his dad took a small step toward him. Jonghyun set his bag down on the floor, eyes never leaving his parents.

“Jonghyun,” his mother began, fidgeting with her hands. “Sweetie.”

“Son, your mother and I just want you to know,” his father cut in. “That… we care about you.”

“We love you, no matter what.”

“And that… even though we may not totally understand why,” his dad went on. “That we respect your decision to become a transvestite.”

“We just want you to be happy,” his mother continued. “And if being a transvestite makes you happy, then we will support you. Look,” she said, pulling a box from behind her on the bed. “We even bought you this.” She handed it to Jonghyun. “To show you our support.”

Jonghyun lifted the lid to reveal a frilly floral dress. “I…” he stared at it in confusion. “I don’t…”

“It’s alright,” his mom said. “You don’t have to say anything right now. We just want you to know that you don’t have to hide this from us.”

“Son.” His father clapped a strong hand on his shoulder. “We’re happy that you’re being true to yourself. And by god, we want you to be the best transvestite you can be.” He gave Jonghyun a proud and tearful nod, accompanied by a supportive squeeze of his shoulder, before they both left the room, and Jonghyun standing there speechless.

 

Zelo chewed on his lip in thought after you asked him the same question you had just asked Eli and Seyong. “I really hate it when guys try to pull gay stuff around me.”

You frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Like they try to kiss me and stuff,” he explained. “They do it to be funny, but I don’t like it.”

“Why don’t you like it, Zelo?” you asked in a soothing therapist voice.

“Because I’m not gay,” he mumbled.

You had no idea what he meant by that. So he didn’t like it when guys pretended to love each other to be funny? But guys can’t love each other anyway. Did Zelo not like them making fun of such an absurd and unheard of notion? Perhaps he just had a different brand of humor.

“Well,” you began, trying to see how you could adapt this to your point. “Maybe instead of judging them, you should respect them for being who they really are and being true to themselves, even if that’s not exactly what you want or really understand. Does that make sense?” you asked after a short pause.

He momentarily scrunched up his face in thought and then nodded. You grinned as you turned to the next person in the circle.

“What about you, Zico? What’s something you really hate?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you what I hate,” he exclaimed, rocking forward to lean on the balls of his feet. “I really hate it when _that_ idiot—“ he jabbed a finger toward G-Dragon, whose hair was dark today and teased to a point where it looked severely damaged.

“It’s me, GD,” the latter corrected.

“It hate it when you talk,” Zico spat with disdain.

GD grinned antagonistically. “I know you love me,” he remarked.

“Shut up, I hate you. I hate that you can’t talk without it being some cheesy rap or lyric of yours. It gets on my nerves like you just don’t understand!”

“Okay,” you interrupted before the situation could escalate. “So, G-Dragon,” you said, turning to him, “Zico says that all you say… are lyrics?”

“I won’t deny it nor fight it,” he responded.

“Alright…” You paused for a moment as you thought over this odd habit. “Why do you do that?”

“Just wild and young.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m just wild and young,” he repeated. “Do it just for fun.”

“Oh…” you muttered. “Okay…” G-Dragon was always a bit perplexing to you.

 

“Then today she didn’t even sit with us at lunch, she just went to sit by that _Nichkhun_ guy again, who’s a _total_ _Casanova_ and _nobody can compete with him_. You remember him, right?” Chanyeol moped as he vented to his best friend, who hummed in acknowledgment as he poured over some newspaper clippings that were about fifteen years old. “Yeah, well apparently they’re dating now. And I guess she’s also dating someone else at the same time? I don’t even know who this Himchan guy is.”

“Mary Sue is two-timing people?” Baekhyun shook his head. “Wow that’s low.”

“Yeah…” Chanyeol buried his head in his hands. “And neither of them are me.”

The other sighed and pushed over the collection of newspaper articles for another book. “Sometimes you just have to move on.”

“How can I move on when she didn’t even tell me we were broken up?” Chanyeol whined. “I didn’t even get any closure, so how can I know for sure that’s what she wants?”

“Chanyeol?”

“Yeah?” He looked up hopefully.

Baekhyun regarded him for a moment. “What do _you_ want?”

“I want Mary Sue,” he said without hesitation.

Baekhyun just sighed and shook his head, looking back at the tome he was flipping through. “You got yourself tangled with someone you barely understand, you know? You should’ve just done what like half of the other guys did and went gay for another Hunter. At least we all totally get each other,” he said with a smirk.

Chanyeol gazed at his best friend with the saddest puppy eyes he had ever seen and he snorted.

“Not with me, you oversized dork. I’m not gay.”

He went back to scrutinizing the book and Chanyeol scoffed and punched him gently in the head. “What are you looking at anyway?” he demanded, deciding a subject change might be beneficial.

“Hm? Oh nothing,” the other answered a bit distractedly.

Chanyeol peered over his shoulder. “Birth records? What is this about?”

“I’m just trying to learn some of the history of the people who live here,” Baekhyun muttered.

“Baek,” murmured Chanyeol. “History? These are from the nineties.”

“Okay fine, the history of our peers,” Baekhyun corrected shortly.

“You expect to find history with birth records?” Chanyeol laughed. “What is this about?”

“This is about me being cut off from humanity for so long that I feel alienated, alright?” the other snapped. “All my life, I’ve dealt entirely with the undead. Is it so bad that I want to know more about the humans that live around me? Is it terrible for me to want to learn about the community that I’m striving to fit into?”

Chanyeol pouted a little and shook his head soberly. “No,” he said lowly. “I guess not.”

“Good.” Baekhyun nodded and sighed a little, diffusing the tension that built up during his rant.

Chanyeol nodded too. “Good,” he repeated.

 

“Okay, well how about this,” you suggested, trying to keep tension levels low. “Zico, you should try to respect that G-Dragon is just expressing himself through his… way of speaking.”

The gang member you were addressing frowned a little and stared at the ground, but he nodded slightly.

“And G-Dragon, you should try to respect that not everyone really understands you when you talk the way you do, or understands why you do it, so we can make a compromise here if you just don’t talk in lyrics _all_ the time, and Zico doesn’t try to kill you when you _do_ talk in lyrics.” You looked around, hoping your words got through to them. “Okay?”

GD nodded, frowning in thought, and then looked you in the eye. “Okay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he assured, and then stared at Zico. “I’m sorry,” he said, holding out a hand in an offering of peace.

Zico hesitated a moment before hoisting himself up from his spot. “Yeah, okay,” he muttered as he took the hand offered to him.

You beamed at the display. “Well,” you said happily, clasping your hands together, “I think we’ve made so much progress today—“

You were interrupted by the door slamming open as someone barged in, and you looked over to see Ren in the doorway.

“Come on,” he ordered. “We have to go see if our woman slave showed up where she was told.”

“She’s already here, actually,” Eli replied with a bit of an amused smirk.

Ren pivoted back to stare at the gathering in the room and finally his eyes settled on you.

“What?!”


	38. Chapter 38

“How the fuck did you even get here?” Ren spat at you from across the room.

You scoffed with a smile. “Uh, I drove,” you informed him, as if it was a silly question in the first place.

“You were unconscious when we brought you here, and when you left,” he argued. “How did you find us?”

“Wouldn’t it be more productive to just make use of my time here?” you reasoned haughtily. “I mean, I’ve already made so much progress today.”

Ren looked at you with a seething expression. “Progress with what?” he growled. You were about to answer, when he cut you off. “I don’t know who you think you are, or what you think you’re doing here,” he hissed, stepping angrily towards you. “But you do _not_ have the power you think you do. I’m still the leader of this gang, and you are nothing but my woman slave,” he snarled.

“Come on man, why can’t you just respect her?” Seyong spoke up from the couch. Ren snapped his head in that direction, glaring daggers at the redhead, and Seyong looked down at his hands submissively.

“Woman slave,” he addressed you again.

“My name’s Mary Sue”—

“Shut up.” You complied. “Now get out.”

You blinked bewilderedly at him. “But I’m not finished”—

“I don’t care. I want to you get out of my sight,” he snapped. “Now!”

You folded your arms. You were so close to getting everyone to get along here, and you were not about to let this guy ruin all the work you’ve been doing. Then it dawned on you. “Oh, now I get it,” you said.

Ren’s eyebrows cinched together as he looked at you.

He hadn’t been with everyone else when you did the trust exercises, nor was he here when you were talking to the gang about respect. “It’s okay Ren,” you consoled. “You don’t need to feel left out. Here, I’ll do today’s exercise with you. What’s something you really hate?” you asked.

His nostrils flared. “I hate that you won’t listen to me and get the fuck out of my hideout!”

“Good,” you continued. “Now… how about you _respect_ my decision to stay here, instead of getting angry about it? Doesn’t that sound nice?” You emphasized your therapeutic suggestion with a smile.

Meanwhile, Ren picked up the nearby lamp off the table and looked at you. Uh oh. You could already see where this was going.

 

The next day, Jonghyun trudged exhaustedly into the school. Mary Sue had gotten home way past curfew last night and he had stayed up worrying about her until well after she was tucked safely in her bed. He wished he knew what was going on with her. He missed having his twin sister around to talk to about everything, and he could really use a therapeutic venting session right about now.

He was so lost in his moping thoughts that he barely noticed Key as he walked up to greet him.

“Good morning,” his boyfriend said curtly, and Jonghyun offered a meek smile before falling back into his troubles. There were a few moments of silence before Key apparently couldn’t hold in what he wanted to say and he took a breath to preface it. “What the hell are you wearing?” he asked finally.

Jonghyun glanced down at himself. “Oh,” he muttered, picking at the flowery skirt of the dress his parents had gifted him. “My parents think I’m a transvestite,” he explained.

Key narrowed his eyes with confused skepticism. “But you’re not…?”

“Yeah, but they bought me this,” Jonghyun continued. “The least I could do is wear it.”

His boyfriend huffed in exasperation and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jonghyun,” he grit through his teeth. “You’re not a transvestite.”

“I know,” he sighed. “But Key, they’re finally being supportive.”

“They’re not being supportive of _you_ ,” Key countered. “They’re being supportive of something they’re misunderstanding you to be. Don’t you get it?”

“But…” Jonghyun chewed on his lip. “I’m just trying to make them happy.”

“Well _here’s_ a novel idea!” Key cried, throwing up his hands. “Why don’t you tell them the truth!”

“I want to,” Jonghyun said pathetically. “But what if they don’t understand?” Mary Sue had already failed to understand. How could his parents get it if she couldn’t?

Key sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes with the tips of his fingers before stopping in the middle of the hallway, causing Jonghyun to stop too and look at him questioningly. His boyfriend was just staring at him, eyes weary. “Then at least you’ll have told them. Right?”

Jonghyun couldn’t say anything to that, and Key just looked away and walked the opposite direction down the hallway, leaving Jonghyun standing there alone, without much dignity left.

 

You finished getting the books you needed from your locker and turned around, suddenly running into a muscular body. You looked up to see beautiful double-lidded eyes. “Minho!” you exclaimed. “Um… h-hi,” you said, not really sure what to say.

He regarded you with a thoughtful expression before saying, “Hi.”

Your eyes widened. That was the first word you’d ever heard come out of Minho’s mouth. For a long time you’d suspected him of being mute. “Hi,” you said again, unnecessarily. “Um… what’s up?”

“Uh… not much, I guess,” he answered awkwardly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Oh.” You nodded. “Of course.”

He glanced down the hall hesitantly before turning back to you. “How long have you and Nichkhun been so… close?”

You thought for a moment. “I guess since around Valentine’s Day,” you answered.

“You spent Valentine’s Day together?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you said with a smile. “At the ice rink. How’d you know?”

His expression seemed to fall slightly. “Has he said anything about me?” he asked softly.

You shook your head. “No, not really,” you answered. “He never talks about you.”

“Oh,” Minho mumbled. Then he sighed and left you without uttering a goodbye. You wondered why he seemed kind of upset. But you didn’t have much time to dwell on it, because you were almost late for class.

 

“Think of it this way,” Amber consoled as she and Jonghyun ambled to their lab stations in chemistry. “They’re trying their best to understand. They just came to the wrong conclusion and you need to set them straight.”

She had nearly burst out laughing when she saw him walk into class in the dress, making a remark about how that combined with Mary Sue’s odd behavior was almost like the arranged marriage plot all over again, but sobered up when she noticed Key’s and Jonghyun’s varyingly unhappy expressions.

“How do I do that though?” Jonghyun whined. “I couldn’t even explain it to Mary Sue. How could my parents possibly understand?”

She narrowed her eyes at him scrutinizingly. “Jonghyun… Have you really tried telling them that you’re gay?”

He stared at the counter and thought. She had a point there. But if he was being completely honest, the thought of being completely honest was terrifying.

“Your parents came to you with their utmost support despite the fact that they don’t understand. I think at this point they’re trying so hard that you might be able to admit that you go around urinating in slides at playgrounds just for fun and they would do their damndest to understand.”

He cracked a smile at the odd suggestion, but then glanced at Key across the room, who still looked totally weary, and his smile faltered.

“I just,” he sighed, running his hands through his hair. “I just wish I could make everyone happy.”

“I think what matters is that you do whatever makes _you_ happy,” she remarked. “And that’s not gonna be lying to the people you love about who you are.”

It seemed obvious the way she put it. Simple, even. But it felt pretty complicated to him.

 

The school day was finally over, and you couldn’t wait to get to the gang hideout tonight. You were about to get in your flashy silver BMW when you felt a hand on your shoulder, and you turned to see Nichkhun standing there with that confident smile of his.

“Where are you headed off to in such a hurry?” he asked you.

You faltered for a bit, trying to come up with an answer that didn’t have something to do with a notorious gang and a dingy warehouse on the outskirts of town. “Nowhere,” you blurted. Real smooth.

Nichkhun just chuckled lightly. “Come to the club tomorrow night,” he said. “Everyone will be there.”

You nodded, anxious to leave and get to where you were most wanted. “Alright, I’ll be there,” you said, turning to sit in the driver’s seat.

“Wait, not so fast,” Nichkhun murmured, pulling you back toward him. For a moment, he just stared at you, making you somewhat uncomfortable and curious as to what was even going on. Then he smiled and tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear. “See you tomorrow,” he said as you parted and he went on his way to his own car.

Well, that was odd, you thought. But you didn’t dwell on it for too long as you got in your car and headed to the hideout.

 

“Knock knock!” you exclaimed happily as you barged into the hideout, ignoring everyone’s surprised expressions to see you there tonight.

“What are you doing here?” Eli asked.

You sighed in mock exasperation. “Do we have to go through this every time I come here?”

You waited through a few exchanged glances. “We didn’t even send you a note this time,” Zelo muttered.

You scoffed. “What kind of woman slave would I be if I waited for an invitation to show up?”

They just shrugged and you revealed the bags of candy you had brought for them, luring them over to the couches again.

“So,” you began once everyone was munching on some sweets of their choice. “Last time I was here, I realized that part of the reason we don’t _trust_ and _respect_ each other is because we don’t completely _understand_ each other. So I think we should make some efforts to do that tonight.”

You looked around at the mildly blank expressions. “How?” Zelo asked simply.

“I was thinking we could go around in a circle and explain to each other the reason we joined this gang,” you replied. “Knowing each others’ pasts and motives is a perfect way to understand each other.”

A few people nodded. “Makes sense,” Zico said between small handfuls of Skittles.

“I’ll go first,” you said, tearing a bite out of your stick of licorice as you pondered. “I joined this gang because I kept getting scary cryptic notes and I was kidnapped and ordered to be your woman slave. And now I’m here!” You raised your arms and smiled. “Alright, Zelo’s turn!”

 

“Sometimes I just wish I could rewind time,” Chanyeol sighed into his hands. “Go back to the vampire apocalypse, you know?”

“I know exactly how you feel,” Kai agreed, clapping him on his shoulder.

“At least then I knew what my purpose was,” the taller one continued.

“At least I knew who I was,” Jonghyun added.

“What is he even doing here?” Kai muttered to nobody in particular. He got a few shrugs from the other former Hunters in the room.

“I figured he could use some hospitality,” Suho muttered, giving him a sympathetic expression as he watched Jonghyun smack his face on the table.

“My parents think I’m a transvestite,” he groaned. “My boyfriend thinks I’m a coward. My sister thinks … I don’t even know what she thinks.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Pathetic,” he muttered under his breath.

“I wish I knew what she thought of me,” Chanyeol sobbed. “She just suddenly stopped talking to me, and now she’s with someone else, or… two someones elses”—

“Chanyeol, are you drunk right now?” Suho asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “I’m drunk… from heartbreak,” he choked out between manly sobs.

“Here,” Kai said, pulling out a bottle and setting it on the table in front of Chanyeol. “Get drunk on something else, the hangover’s much more tolerable.”

The redhead just sniffed and hid his face in his hands again.

“I wish my parents would just understand,” Jonghyun said into the wood of the table. “I’m not a transvestite… I’m just gay!”

“I wish I could understand Mary Sue,” Chanyeol wailed. “But she just won’t talk to me!”

“Ugh, you guys are the worst excuses for men that I’ve ever laid eyes on,” Kai groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Have either of you even tried talking to them? Jonghyun, did you actually straight up _tell_ your parents that you’re gay?”

Jonghyun sighed pathetically in response.

“And Chanyeol… did you ever think to approach Mary Sue and tell her that you want to talk?”

The Hunter answered him with watery puppy dog eyes.

“Then stop crying about your problems and do something about them! GOD!” With that, Kai stormed out of the kitchen, the others staring after him.

Jonghyun pouted down at the table. “What’s his problem?” he mumbled. Chanyeol shrugged.

 

“G-Dragon?”

He looked at you inquisitively.

“Why did you join the gang?” you asked him.

He sighed contemplatively and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs. “Steady thinkin’ bout this thing called love,” he began. “It got me shaken up.”

Your eyebrows drew together as you tried to comprehend, the room having fallen reverently silent as he explained.

“And it got my head spinnin’ round round round round,” he continued, waving his hands solemnly around his head. “Don’t wanna take a fall, it’s best I break it all.”

“Okay…” you said slowly. “G-Dragon,” you muttered. “I’m not quite sure I really understand—“

“Nah nah, I get it,” Zico interrupted, holding out a hand. “It’s that age old story, man.”

He and GD met gazes and Zico nodded with a small grin.

“He had a girl,” Zico said simply. “Couldn’t make her happy. Thought it would be better for her to move on.”

GD smiled and nodded, looking down.

“Are you guys actually… _understanding_ each other?” you said delightedly. You were making so much progress!

Suddenly the door burst open and Ren walked in. The second he caught sight of you, however, his eyes widened and he turned right back around to walk back out.

“Hey Ren!” you called before he could leave. “Wanna join in on our—“

“No!”

_Slam!_

You blinked and looked around, then shrugged. “Well I guess it’s Eli’s turn,” you said, nodding your head toward him.

The addressed gang member leaned back and stared at the ceiling in thought. “It started when I was just a kid,” he began…

 

I guess we were unlikely friends. He was the privileged kid from a well off family and I was more along the lines of a street urchin. But we both frequented the music store downtown. We just kept running into each other, so we became friends and started hanging out.

When we were eleven we had the crazy idea that we would make it big as musicians together. We didn’t even know what we would do exactly. I could barely strum a few chords on the guitar and he could fumble his way through a simple drum beat, and we both liked to write lyrics. I guess we figured we could take on the world with just a dream.

We practiced and practiced every week for that dream. Got really good at what we played, and he added the piano to his skills. We started getting serious about our lyrics and the meanings of our songs. Started rapping, too. It was something we wanted badly, and no amount of dreaming and practicing would ease that ache. We were young, we had an entire future ahead of us, and we were determined to make it ours.

The looming reality though was that he would be going to a different school in a completely different area, and I would be stuck at the lower class public high school. When he turned fourteen, I saved up to buy him these drumsticks I knew he’d been wanting. We started practicing twice as often, convinced we could make this our reality. But then as the new school year approached, he couldn’t come around as often because his parents had him studying for entrance exams. We saw less and less of each other, and by the time school had started I was left behind.

It was around that point when I realized that we were foolish to chase a dream like that. And I was so tired of being the one he was flaking out on that I stopped trying to see him. He was too busy and I didn’t fit into his life anymore.

I quit playing guitar and writing lyrics. I didn’t hang around the music store anymore. Instead I wandered around looking for something else. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I needed a new dream.

Funny thing is I couldn’t stay away from the music. I caught myself showing up at all these gigs at the club. Local bands and artists who were working hard at the dream I’d once had. I got excited watching them on stage. I wanted to be where they were.

It was at one of these shows that I actually met a lot of this crew here. I ran into Seyong, this rich kid from another district who had an affinity for the underground, and he took me to one of the rap battles that were happening in these dirty discreet locations. I guess the events were pretty exclusive. Zico was battling that night. He’s good at what he does, I gotta say. The man’s an artist.

Zelo was at the same event, and he and I talked a little bit about how we got in on the scene. From what I learned from him, his situation was pretty similar to mine. He had a friend who was like his older brother and mentor and taught him a bunch about rapping and the underground before he disappeared about a year before on academic scholarship to the same damn school that stole my best friend from me. I decided then that I hate Mordney Public High School.

The four of us started hanging out after that. We would just walk around anywhere late at night and raise a little hell. Seyong was like our navigator, he would take us to all these odd niches that you wouldn’t have known were there unless you really looked for them. Zico was this loud, charismatic leader and his mind was always on a crazy rhythm. I don’t think a second goes by when he’s not writing lyrics in his head. Zelo and I were more or less along for the ride. None of us had anything better to do, nor any place to go.

We talked about all kinds of things, from music and rapping to dropping out of school and living on our own. We had flighty dreams and half-baked plans to achieve them. We wanted to take the world by storm. We wanted to disappear to a remote location to never be found. We were unsatisfied with our shortcomings in life and we all felt wronged by some sort of establishment that we wanted to usurp. Ultimately, we wanted to change the status quo.

This was all just talk for most of us, but Seyong, crazy planner that he was with the underground knowledge and connections that he had, had gone and figured out a way for us to work for it. He found a way for us to change the status quo. To disappear and take the world by storm from the shadows. Suddenly everything seemed possible. All we had to do was join the legions. Form a contract. Make a deal with the devil.

Zelo and I were more reluctant about it. Seyong knew this, so he convinced Zico first in private. He went for it right away, reckless bastard. The two of them started disappearing to go off with this gang, leaving me and Zelo behind. Every once in a while we’d get to see them again, and we’d ask about what they’d been up to only to be answered with cryptic allusions and avoiding the topic altogether.

That was what convinced Zelo and me to join as well. We didn’t wanna be left behind again.

Joining the gang was not only like suddenly finding a vessel to achieve our goals to change the status quo and manipulate people around us; it was not only something I could use to focus my disdain for the school that had caused me so much grief into a way to exact some sort of revenge; it was like becoming part of this secret brotherhood, like a fraternity, where we all look out for each other and share our feelings of mirth. We’re all in a similar situation in this gang. We all have something that brought us here. We’ve been snubbed by the status quo, and together we have a chance to change it.

 

After the story, you blinked away the images from the flashback from your mind. “Wow,” you murmured quietly. “I never realized you had such a deep and meaningful backstory, Eli.”

He smirked and nodded. “Thanks,” he said shortly.

 

Later that night, you were pleased with the fact that you hadn’t yet been knocked unconscious and thrown out of the hideout, so once your therapy session was over, you were able to just hang out with the gang like friends. Zico and Seyong were playing a competitive game of pool while Zelo watched as if studying how to play the game. Eli and G-Dragon were just chilling on the couches and watching, amused, so you went over to sit by them.

“Hey, G-Dragon?”

He turned to look at you with a small smile, his long teal hair falling over one eye.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Ay your choice,” he said with a welcoming grin. “Drop it on me.”

“Can you tell me about your love story?” you asked him like a child asking for a bedtime story. The small bit you heard from his story sounded so touching and tragic and you’d love to hear it. “Like, how did you meet?”

You curled your knees up to your chest and rested your chin on them as you listened.

“Now here she come, she wants some of my lollipop,” he began with a grin. “She touchin’ on my body, makes me wanna rock.”

You tilted your head as you caught Eli’s grin, both of you listening to the story.

“Now here I come, I give it to her straight up and down,” GD continued. “Now here I come, here I come, come, come, come, come—“

“Wait, wait,” you stopped him. “I don’t quite get it. You two met because you gave her a lollipop?”

“You know what it is,” Eli said with a devilish wink.

“What? No I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“If you didn’t know,” GD remarked, “now you know.”

“But I still don’t understand!” you cried.

Everyone in the room just laughed at your apparent naivety.

You were so confused.

“What?!”


	39. Chapter 39

As Mary Sue, you took a deep breath and prepared yourself for the most subtly significant, well-executed expository plot forwarding that has ever been established in the story thus far.

“Hey,” you said, suddenly getting an idea. “You guys should all show up at the club tomorrow. I heard everyone’s going to be there.” If the gang were to show up as well, this prophecy would come true.

The entire gang agreed wholeheartedly that this was a good idea. You were relieved at getting that bit of exposition out of the way before you went home.

 

“I don’t understand,” Chanyeol whined with his face pressed into the table. “Why won’t she just talk to me?!”

“Why can’t she just understand that I’m gay?!” Jonghyun added.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Key slammed both fists on the table loudly. “Can we not get through ONE SCENE without either of you whining about Mary Sue?? Why does EVERYTHING have to revolve around her?? WHY CAN’T WE JUST HAVE A DAY WHERE WE DON’T TALK ABOUT HER FOR ONCE??”

“Key’s right,” Krystal piped up.

“Thank you!” Key cried, exasperated.

“We can have fun without Mary Sue!” she went on.

“I’ve been trying to say that all along!”

“We should all meet up at the club tonight,” she suggested with a smile.

“That’s a great idea, Krystal!” he said with uncharacteristically enthusiastic approval.

“Besides, I heard everyone’s gonna be there. Maybe we’ll run into Mary Sue!”

“Oh fucking hell,” Key muttered on an exhale, slamming his face down on the lunch table.

 

“And she’s still not talking to me”—

“Okay, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun turned around abruptly as they walked into the former hideout. “I know I’m your best friend and I’m supposed to be there for you when you’re going through a hard time and everything,” he said. “But you’re really starting to sound redundant. You need to get over Mary Sue.”

“He’s still complaining about her?” Kai droned, walking in from the kitchen followed by Kyungsoo. “You need something better to do with your time, man. I think this whole losing our purpose thing has taken a toll on you.”

“At least I’m not complaining about how there aren’t anymore vampires to fight,” Chanyeol argued. “I’m complaining about real life problems.”

Kai scoffed. “At least I’m not complaining anymore,” he retorted. “I’ve found something better to do with my time.”

“Yeah, well at least I have other friends besides the Hunters.”

“At least I’m getting laid,” Kai spat back with a smirk.

“Okay!” Kyungsoo cut in. “I have an idea. How about we all go out tonight, get out of this place and do something. All of us. How does that sound?”

“I can’t,” Chanyeol said, slouching his shoulders. “I’ve already got plans.”

“What plans?” Baekhyun asked.

“I said I’d go to the club tonight,” Chanyeol said. “With my friends,” he added with a pointed look at Kai.

Baekhyun seemed to think of something. “Will Sunny be there?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol answered. “Everyone’s going to be there.”

 

“Where are you off to all dressed up?” your mom said from your doorway.

You glanced up from your made-up reflection momentarily to answer her. “I’m going to the club tonight with my friends.”

“Oh, are you going with Chanyeol?”

“No,” you said. “I’m going with my friends. Everyone’s gonna be there.”

“I haven’t seen him around much, are you guys doing okay?”

“Yeah, mom.” You were barely listening as you stood up to throw on some shoes and a jacket. “I have to go, bye!” And you scampered past her out the door without another glance in her direction.

 

Jonghyun stared blankly at the ceiling. He felt like he was stuck in a hole in the ground and he couldn’t figure out a way to climb back out of it. If he didn’t soon, he might start getting buried.

He couldn’t even muster up the strength to improve this metaphor. Basically everything sucked.

“You know,” said a soft voice from his doorway, “it seems like both of you grew up so fast that I barely had a chance to notice. And now you two are independent young adults and you don’t need me anymore.”

Jonghyun sat up and pulled a leg up to his chest. He couldn’t really think of anything to say to his mother. There was so much he was keeping inside, but at this point he didn’t even know where to begin, so he just kept silent.

“Your sister’s going out tonight,” she continued. “What about you?”

He shrugged. “I guess I’m going to the club,” he muttered. “Since everyone’s gonna be there.”

His mom smiled somewhat sadly. “Do you want some help getting ready?”

He didn’t really need help. He would just throw on some jeans and—

“I’ll do your makeup,” she offered.

Oh. He rubbed his face exhaustedly. “Alright,” he sighed.

As he sat in his desk chair letting his mom dust his face with whatever it was she was applying, he listened to the soothing sound of her humming “Mary Had a Little Lamb” under her breath. It was somewhat relaxing, and it felt nice being taken care of like this. But mostly he just felt tired and defeated.

“Open your eyes,” she told him, and he obeyed. His mother gave a watery-eyed smile and sighed. “You have such beautiful dark brown eyes,” she commented. “Just like your sister.”

He looked in the mirror. Okay, he looked pretty good with the dramatic cat eye accentuating his features. “Thanks, mom,” he murmured, and stood up to put on the stilettos she had picked out for him. “I have to go. I love you.” He pecked her on the cheek on his way out the door.

 

You could hear the bass from the parking lot, a low primal rhythm that travelled through the ground and into your bones. When you hobbled through the door on your platforms, you were hit by the thick humid air of sweat and body heat. There were so many people packed in here, it was like everyone was at the club tonight! The only lighting was black lights, strobe lighting that made the dance floor flash like a quick slide show, and some colored lighting around the bar area.

You got the feeling tonight was going to be intense.

The first face you recognized was Himchan, who had spotted you and started waving you over.

“Hey!” you greeted him over the loud music. “Are you having fun?” You felt like you were screaming, but you could barely hear yourself.

He shook his head. “No, I’m not here with anyone!”

You frowned slightly. “Why not?” you asked.

The question seemed to make him nervous. Had something bad happened? “I didn’t know who to ask!” he said.

“What?!”

He leaned closer. “I didn’t have anyone to go with me!”

“You don’t need a date!” you exclaimed. Nobody needs a date to have fun!

“Really?” His eyes lit up, reflecting the dark pools of dancing bodies.

“Yeah!”

“Mary Sue, you don’t know what this means to me!”

“Who’s being mean to you?”

Himchan bit his lip in hesitation. As he did so, you were suddenly distracted from him by the presence of a couple of the gang members who had just walked through the door.

“Can I tell you something?” Himchan asked, but you couldn’t hear him over the music and your own, “Hey guys!” as you made your way over to greet Zico and G-Dragon.

 

There she was, Chanyeol thought. He had seen Mary Sue as soon as she walked in the door. He guessed he was just sensitive to her presence, never mind the fact that he had been staring unblinkingly at that door since he’d arrived twenty minutes ago.

About nineteen minutes ago, Baekhyun decided he was fed up with Chanyeol’s obsessiveness and wandered off somewhere else, saying something about a couple soon to be broken up. Chanyeol wished his best friend would talk about him with a little more sensitivity than that.

“Who’s that guy?” Kai asked from beside him, nodding in Mary Sue’s direction.

Oh, so she’ll talk to that _Himchan guy_ but not to him? Chanyeol really hated that guy. He had never spoken to him, but this Himchan character seemed really shifty to him. What kind of guy dates a girl who was already dating another guy that she was cheating on another guy with?

“That’s Himchan,” Chanyeol answered bitterly. “The most popular guy in school. Or at least he was when he and Mary Sue were still together.”

From what Chanyeol had heard about him from Krystal, Himchan probably only wanted to date Mary Sue because it would make him the most popular guy in the school again.

“Man,” Kai said, watching the two across the room. “Bet that sucks, seeing your girlfriend flirt with her ex boyfriend.” He nudged Chanyeol with his elbow.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said. “Thanks, Kai. That really makes me feel a lot better.”

“He’s got better game than you do,” Kai said, ignoring the other’s remarks. “At least he’s actually initiating conversation with her.”

“Yeah, well maybe my fist will initiate conversation with his face!” Chanyeol spat out.

Kai raised his eyebrows at him and patted his shoulder. “If you had the balls to do that, my friend, you wouldn’t be in this pathetic predicament of yours.”

You know what? Maybe he would go over there and punch Himchan in the face. Right in front of Mary Sue! That would remind her how manly and protective her boyfriend is.

“You know what?” Chanyeol said to Kai. “I _will_ go punch him in the face.”

“Will you now.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said without waiting for Kai’s response. He was getting riled up now. “Yeah, I’m gonna go over there and show him who’s actually dating Mary Sue. _I’m_ her boyfriend, not him!”

“So go do it,” Kai encouraged monotonously.

“I will!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Right now?”

“What?”

“You’re missing your chance,” Kai muttered, staring at Mary Sue and Himchan.

“What?” Mary Sue was walking away. “Where’s she going?”

“I dunno, but it looks like you won’t be proving anything to her yet.”

Chanyeol deflated. “I wish she’d just talk to me.”

Kai grumbled and dragged his hands over his face. “I’m going to dance. Let me know when you feel like doing something about your problems.”

 

Jonghyun trudged through the crowd and looked around. He could spot a few somewhat familiar faces. Most of the people he recognized were from school. Wow, it looked like everyone really was here tonight.

Near the bar, he noticed Nichkhun and some guy whom Jonghyun could swear he had met once before. Nichkhun was leaning over the other and smirking, the other looking flustered and a bit tipsy with his drink quivering in his hand. Jonghyun felt for the guy. He didn’t think he’d be able to withstand that kind of attention from the Casanova, especially under the haze of alcohol and colorful neon lighting. Nichkhun was in a stylish white jacket, clean and pristine—that is, for about three seconds from Jonghyun’s perspective until the other guy spilled his neon green drink all over him.

Nichkhun looked livid and the other guy faltered beneath his intimidating glare. “I’m so sorry! I… That’s a good color on you!” he said unhelpfully. It seemed like Nichkhun was about to retort when he noticed something behind the other guy and brushed past him.

It took Jonghyun a few seconds to realize that Nichkhun was heading straight for him, and he had no idea why. He and Nichkhun don’t talk, or at least not alone in one on one conversation. That dynamic was never explored between them, so what would bring Nichkhun to him now?

“Mary Sue!” Nichkhun greeted.

It was then Jonghyun remembered he was wearing the wig. And when he was wearing the wig…

“Hey, I’m glad you’re here,” Nichkhun said with a grin.

Jonghyun didn’t have the energy for this. He spared a tiny nod and smile and started looking around for a way out of this uncomfortable situation.

Someone else was staring at him. Some other guy from the popular crowd. What was his name? Minho?

Oh god, Jonghyun, look away. He didn’t need every guy in school making awkward eye contact and weird conversation with him because they thought he was his sister.

“You seem kinda distracted,” Nichkhun muttered. “Should we go somewhere more private?”

Absolutely not. “NO!”

Nichkhun looked slightly taken aback.

Jonghyun sighed. Well there was no need to ruin his sister’s friendships in any case. He tried to be more polite.

“I mean,” his eyes darted around like a trapped animal’s. “I’d rather just dance! Wouldn’t you rather dance? Let’s dance.” He took Nichkhun’s arm and pulled him to the edge of the crowd and commenced some sort of rhythmic movement that might be considered dancing.

Nichkhun smirked and leaned in close. Jonghyun held his breath and tried not to roll his eyes or lean away too much.

 

“Hey guys!” you said, coming up to Zico and G-Dragon. “How’s it going?”

“I’m just teaching Fettu-G-ni here a few fresh moves,” Zico informed with a cheeky smirk.

“T.O.P. class,” the other acknowledged.  
“G-Dragon?” You almost didn’t recognize him with his long blond hair styled into cornrows streaming into braids.

“I’m Mr. G,” he answered. “In the club, in my B-Boy stance.”

You giggled. “Sounds like you guys have been really bonding!”

“Yeah, I… I braided his hair for tonight,” Zico muttered, rubbing a hand across the back of his head as if he had suddenly admitted something he wasn’t proud of.

“That looks like it was a lot of work,” you mused. “But I’m glad to see you two getting along!”

“Yep. I’m gonna go dance now,” Zico announced, waving at you and GD. “Bye guys. Hi ladies!” he exclaimed, facing the crowd with upheld arms.

You grinned and faced G-Dragon, about to ask him if he wanted to dance too, but he suddenly looked very serious and was staring in the direction Zico had just strode off to.

“What are you looking at?” you asked, trying to pinpoint the exact focus of his eyes, but you couldn’t. You could only scan the crowd of people, half of them familiar, and wonder just what had made his expression so stony. “Why so serious?”

For some reason that seemed to snap him out of his reverie, but only for a moment, as he glanced at you and then immediately set off into the crowd, leaving you to watch the events about to unfold.

 

Chanyeol was absolutely flabbergasted. The second Mary Sue had walked away, some other chick (he vaguely recognized her from school, but she looked way too old to be attending) had approached Himchan and started talking to him and getting all cozy. Chanyeol couldn’t believe what he was seeing! Himchan was cheating on Mary Sue!

Oh, he was gonna get it now. Nobody cheats on _his_ girlfriend!

Chanyeol clenched his fists and his jaw. Everything he could possibly clench, he clenched it. Then he strode stiffly into the crowd, already feeling the impact of Himchan’s jaw about to hit his knuckles.

He was right in front of him, and Chanyeol was reaching out to grab Himchan’s shoulder and spin him around when suddenly Himchan wasn’t in front of him anymore. In fact, he was on the ground, with some dude standing angrily over him, presumably having just punched him in the face.

Damn it!

 

Jonghyun was pressed against three other bodies in his efforts to prevent Nichkhun from being added to the list when there was a sudden commotion somewhere in the crowd and several people stopped dancing. He couldn’t really tell what was going on. Not even heels this high could help him see over all the heads between him and whatever that spectacle was. But Nichkhun was immediately distracted by it and he took a step back to see what was happening, and Jonghyun exhaled finally in relief.

“What’s going on?” Jonghyun asked, not even bothering to sound like Mary Sue. It’s not like anyone could really hear him.

Nichkhun glanced down at him apologetically. “I’m gonna have to catch up with you later, Mary Sue,” he said, and worked his way into the crowd.

Jonghyun was perfectly fine with that. In fact, he probably wouldn’t stick around where Nichkhun could easily find him. Mary Sue can juggle her social connections on her own tonight.

Speaking of social connections, Jonghyun wanted to find his friends. He started searching the crowd for them, but unfortunately he was interrupted by a hand on his arm.

“Excuse me,” said a low voice, and he looked up to see Minho staring down at him. Oh God, this was awkward. Jonghyun was apparently doomed to endure every single interaction he’d been hoping to avoid, and holy cow this guy was tall.

He didn’t even bother saying hi.

Minho seemed to be feeling quite awkward himself, judging by the way he cleared his throat and looked around before putting on a smile that looked almost forced. “So um, you made it,” he noted.

Jonghyun stared blankly at him and slowly nodded.

“Are you having a good time so far?” Minho asked, his eyebrows cinching together just slightly.

Jonghyun stared blankly at him and shrugged his shoulders, then nodded as a bit of an afterthought.

“Good,” Minho muttered, and cleared his throat again. “Okay,” he said, running a hand through his hair and dropping the smile. “Can I ask you something seriously?”

Jonghyun stared blankly at him. What did Minho want to ask him? Or rather, what did Minho want to ask Mary Sue?

Minho leaned in close so Jonghyun could hear him better. “How serious are you about Nichkhun?”

Wow. Jonghyun was not prepared for this. This wasn’t like before when he masqueraded as Mary Sue. At least then he had known what was going on. What was his sister getting up to with all these guys lately? He didn’t know what to think anymore.

Minho still had that questioning gaze directed at him so he had to think fast. “I’m sorry, I have to, um…” Without trying to finish that sentence Jonghyun just walked away.

 

“What the fuck?!” Himchan held a hand up to his mouth, looking up at the person who had just almost dislocated his jaw. He stood up and shoved GD’s chest. “Who do you think you are? Some kind of tough guy?”

“You know I beez that!” he responded, shoving Himchan back.

Himchan stepped up to GD, nose to nose, glaring at him intimidatingly. “You’re going to regret doing that,” he snarled. “I’m going to give you hell.”

GD only smirked at him and leaned closer. “So give me some.”

Before anybody could see what was happening, Himchan threw a right hook, which GD dodged by suddenly falling backwards. He appeared to stumble, swinging his arms as he fought to stand back up. It looked like he was losing his balance, but he was grinning the entire time.

“You’re crazy,” Himchan remarked, staring at the spectacle.

“Out of control!” the other said, straightening himself up. “Everybody make it move!” he ordered the crowd, gesturing them back with his arms as he sauntered back toward his opponent. With a crooked smirk, he muttered, “We gon’ party like lilililalala.”

The punch he threw was lightning fast. Nobody even realized that he threw it, not even Himchan, until the next moment.

Nichkhun suddenly stood there, gripping GD’s arm, his knuckles stopped mere inches from Himchan’s face.

“Not much of a party,” Nichkhun bantered coolly. “Where are all your friends?”

GD scoffed and snatched his arm out of the other’s grasp. “I’m all by myself,” he acknowledged. “But it’s all good.”

“He’s not alone,” came a voice emerging from the crowd behind G-Dragon. Zico stepped through the parting bodies, hands in his pockets, his eyebrow raised as he looked around at them, assessing the situation. His eyes landed on Nichkhun and stayed there, expression blank and unreadable.

Nichkhun glared right back at him, jaw visibly tensing. You could almost see the electricity cracking between them.

“These guys giving you trouble?” he asked Himchan.

Himchan gave G-Dragon a meaningful look and answered, “No trouble at all,” his words iced with a layer of sarcasm.

“Be sure to return the favor,” Zico remarked with a cold smirk.

 

Chanyeol was completely fucking dumbfounded. How many guys was Mary Sue hanging out with nowadays? He didn’t even know these two, but it was obvious they were trouble because they just started a fucking _brawl_ in the middle of the club!

Granted, Chanyeol was just gearing up to do the same exact thing, but damn it these guys were not the kind of people Mary Sue should be hanging around! And now he didn’t know _who_ he should punch in the face!

As the drama unfolded before all the club goers, he was beginning to fall under the impression that these guys knew Nichkhun and Himchan in a way. Like maybe they were old rivals or something.

When he actually paid close attention, he realized just who this whole fight revolved around. The older girl who was talking to Himchan just moments before that other guy beat Chanyeol to the punch had been standing on the edge of the action with the most shocked expression, and eventually she turned and pushed her way through the crowd, clearly unable to take anymore. Chanyeol vaguely wondered what the history was there.

Then he noticed Mary Sue follow her, and he sighed. Clearly he had no idea what was going on in his girlfriend’s life anymore.

He sluggishly pushed his way away from the surrounding crowd as well and stalked off to find more sympathetic company.

 

“Wait!”

Jonghyun cursed under his breath. Couldn’t he catch a break?

Apparently not, since Minho’s hand was now wrapped around his wrist and spinning him to face the taller guy.

And apparently Minho hadn’t really planned this far, because he didn’t say anything, just stared at Jonghyun with his mouth opening and closing like he just couldn’t find the words. Jonghyun had no idea what he even wanted from him, so there was no way he could come up with something to say to appease the guy so he could drop the subject and go on his merry way.

They stood, entangled and staring at each other like that for an indefinite amount of time, and that’s when Nichkhun extracted himself from the crowd. They both noticed him, and he stopped in his tracks at the sight of them together, his eyes darting from Minho’s face to Jonghyun’s before he averted his gaze and walked quickly away from them both, running his hands through his hair.

Jonghyun was so confused that he hardly noticed Minho had dropped his arm. He glanced questioningly up at him, and he sighed, seemingly no longer aware of Jonghyun’s presence as he too walked away, leaving Jonghyun standing alone and baffled.

Well then.

He guessed he was free to find his friends now.

 

As soon as you saw CL run away looking completely distressed, your super best friend instincts kicked in and you had to follow her to find out what was wrong. You managed to catch up to her in the girls’ bathroom, where she was sobbing in the handicap stall.

“CL?” You tentatively knocked on the stall door.

“Go away!” was the response.

“CL, what’s wrong?” you pressed. “Is it about Himchan?”

“He dumped me!” she cried, unable to hold it in. “He just left, and now he thinks he can just show up years later out of the blue and act like he owns me?!”

You frowned. “Himchan?”

“No!” she snapped, and sniffled loudly. “Jiyong!”

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Who’s Jiyong?” you murmured.

“The idiot with the yellow extensions,” she muttered icily.

“Oh, G-Dragon!”

There was a pause. “You know him?”

“Well, yeah,” you said. “We’re in a—uh, I mean, we go to the same…music class,” you improvised. “Like, lessons…outside of school,” you rambled, hoping it made your story more convincing. It was a good thing she couldn’t see your face through the stall door.

“Get out,” she ordered coldly.

“What?”

“Get out!” The stall door swung open and you were suddenly facing her murderous expression. “I don’t want to see your face, you filthy, two-timing whore!”

You didn’t have to be told twice. She was clearly too upset to reason with right now.

 

It was around the bar where Chanyeol almost instinctively found most of the other former Hunters hanging around. With a long exaggerated sigh, he slumped down on a stool and hunched over the fiberglass counter top, face in his hands.

“So,” Chen drawled, leaning on his elbow against the bar. “Who was that guy?” he asked, hardly able to conceal the blatant amusement in his voice.

“Which one?” Chanyeol asked bitterly. “The arrogant jerk, or the random spaghetti thug?”

“How about both?” Xiumin suggested, sitting on the other side of Chen.

Chanyeol let out a sigh before answering. “That’s _Himchan_ ,” he sneered. “The guy Mary Sue is cheating with on that guy she’s cheating on me with. I was gonna go punch him out to show him who Mary Sue’s boyfriend _really_ is, but that other guy did it first.”

A sharp snorting sound cut through his train of thought as Xiumin started snickering rather loudly. “So,” he chuckles, as if trying to hold in his laughter. “He beat you to the punch?”

Chanyeol hunched his shoulders.

“Looks like you got all fired up for nothing,” Chen laughed.

“It was a rather hotheaded approach,” Xiumin added.

“Can you guys not?” Chanyeol muttered in irritation.

“Ooh, we should probably cut it out,” Xiumin said.

“Yeah,” Chen agreed. “I wouldn’t want to face his burning wrath.”

It took three seconds for them to burst into laughter, Chanyeol counted. He responded with a pointed sigh.

“I can feel the heat!” Xiumin laughed. “His anger is flaring up again!”

“He’s flaming mad!”

Suddenly, a loud distorted scream on Chanyeol’s right distracted all three of them as Lay fell off of his barstool and onto the floor, his shoulders raised up to his ears. Sehun and Luhan sat next to him, laughing hysterically.

“Uh,” came a strangely familiar voice from behind them. “Did we come at a bad time?”

 

You just had to figure out what was going on with CL and G-Dragon, and you knew just who to go to for some information.

“Krystal!”

She turned around and smiled brightly at the sight of you. “Oh, hi Mary Sue! It’s been a while,” she noted. “Is it true you stole CL’s ex boyfriend and are two-timing Himchan and Nichkhun while cheating on Chanyeol, all at the same time??” Her eyes were alit with scandalous curiosity.

You frowned. “No,” you denied. “Who would spread all those rumors about me?” You couldn’t imagine having the energy to even pull any of that off.

Krystal put a comforting hand on your shoulder. “I have no idea who would talk about you like that,” she said. “You’re the nicest girl anyone has ever met.”

You smiled. “Thanks Krystal.” Then you remembered your mission. “Hey Krystal, what do you know about CL and her ex-boyfriend?”

She frowned thoughtfully. “Not much,” she admitted. “Jessica knows a little more about it than me, actually.”

Jessica, who was standing nearby and listening to the whole conversation, stepped forward to form a small circle with you two.

“Jessica, what can you tell me about CL and G-Dragon?” you asked her expectantly.

She chewed on the corner of her lip as she thought. “Well they were together when they were both seniors,” she said. “Well, seniors for the first time at least.”

“So about four years ago,” Krystal supplied for you.

“About halfway through the year, Jiyong disappeared, and I guess he dumped CL before he just dropped out,” Jessica mused. “After that, she kinda turned into the monster she is today, failing classes and only caring about high school popularity.”

“So if we get them back together, she’ll go back to how she was before and maybe even finally be able to graduate, and then G-Dragon could leave the gang?” Your matchmaking mind was in overdrive.

“G-Dragon’s in a gang?” Krystal raised her eyebrows interestedly.

“What?” You shook your head quickly. “No, of course not,” you said, raising your voice slightly. “Is it loud in here, or is it just me?”

“It might just be you,” Jessica muttered, but you took no notice.

“We have to get them back together,” you insisted.

Jessica held up her hands in protest. “You’re on your own with that one.”

“Yeah, I don’t know enough about it to be able to help with that,” Krystal said, expression an image of vague sympathy.

“Well how can we find out more then?”

Jessica scoffed. “You could probably pry it out of 2NE1,” she remarked. “Since they were actually there.”

You hit your fist into your palm with a look of determination. “Then that’s what I’ll do!” you declared.

Ignoring their sudden arguments against this and their incredulous assertions that “you can’t just waltz right up to them and demand them to talk about their friend, expecting them to spill everything,” you turned your back on the two sisters and marched off to find the rest of 2NE1. They had to be somewhere around here. Everyone was at the club tonight.

 

“Tao?!”

“And Kris!”

Chanyeol and the rest of the Hunters stared at the new arrivals behind them, mouths gaping. Kris at least took a moment to help Lay off of the floor before responding.

“Hey guys!”

“Where have you been this whole time?” Luhan asked, completely incredulous.

“Yeah, where’d you end up going after you just up and left?” Lay added.

Kris scratched his chin. “Around,” he said. “Vegas mostly.”

“What the hell were you doing there?” Chen asked.

“That information is classified,” Tao stated.

The others regarded them with raised eyebrows and questioning expressions.

“You know what they say about Vegas,” Kris supplied, and they all nodded and made sounds of agreement.

“So what brought you back?” Suho asked.

“Well, we heard everyone was going to be at the club tonight,” Kris said.

“Wait, how did you hear about that if you were in Vegas?”

Kris didn’t acknowledge Sehun’s question, instead continuing with, “So we hitched our way back.”

Kyungsoo leaned in toward Sehun and whispered, “I guess word really does travel fast.”

 

Finally, some familiar faces Jonghyun actually wanted to interact with. He managed to locate Key and Amber on the edge of the dance floor just near the DJ. Amber was the first to notice him approaching, and the extremely amused grin that broke across her face, as she looked him over prompted Key to see what the spectacle was.

“What are you wearing,” Key demanded the moment he turned around and caught sight of Jonghyun.

Jonghyun looked sheepishly down at his appearance. “My mom helped me get ready for tonight,” he explained.

Key’s lips formed a thin line of frustration. “You still haven’t told them,” he concluded.

“Well, she just seemed so happy when I let her do my makeup—“

“Have you even bothered trying to come out to Mary Sue?” Key interrupted.

Jonghyun faltered. “No,” he muttered. “She wouldn’t understand, anyway.”

“He’s right,” Amber cut in, “Mary Sue kind of tends to deflect meaningful information like an inflatable shield rather than absorb it.”

Key ignored this. “Go tell her,” he said. “Make her understand.”

Jonghyun sighed. “Key, I can’t just waltz up to her and tell her that I’m gay.”

“Why not?” his boyfriend countered. “You wouldn’t know because you haven’t tried yet!”

“Well for one, I don’t even know how I would begin to find her in this place…” Jonghyun glanced around at the pressing bodies surrounding them.

Key sighed heavily and rubbed his face with his fingertips. “You know what? I’m going to dance,” he decided. “Let me know when you feel like doing something about your problems.”

With that, he stalked off to immerse himself deeper in the dancing crowd. Through the moving spaces between the bodies, Jonghyun caught a few glimpses of his boyfriend being pressed against several random people that were not Jonghyun. There was something tragically wrong with this, but he just didn’t know how to remedy it.

Ignoring Amber’s expression of concern and sympathy, Jonghyun walked away without any real idea where he was going.

 

It was near the parking lot where you waltzed right up to 2NE1 and launched into an interrogation about CL.

“Hey, what can you tell me about CL and her ex?”

They shot you expressions with raised eyebrows and exchanged glances with each other before turning back to you.

“What do you want to know?” Minzy asked.

You let out a short breath. “Like, what was their relationship like? Why did they break up? What happened after they broke up?”

“Well they got together our first senior year,” Dara supplied. “And they were pretty happy. Jiyong wanted to give her the world, and CL was so ready to take it from him. It was kinda disgusting to be around, actually, but the girl was smitten and he was head over heels for her, so who were we to judge?”

“As for why they broke up,” Bom continued. “Something happened with Jiyong’s best friend, Choi Seunghyun. We’re not really sure what it was, but he disappeared, and Jiyong seemed pretty shaken up about it. He was gonna drop out of school, but no one knows what his plan was, really. But he didn’t want CL to be involved.” She gazed down thoughtfully. “I guess whatever it was, it was too dangerous, and he didn’t want her to be a part of it.”

“She was heartbroken,” Dara picked up again. “She didn’t want him to leave, but when he did, she just stopped caring about everything.”

“That’s about when she just became a raging bitch,” said Minzy. “I guess her way of proving she could be tough and handle anything was transforming into a hard-shelled queenka of epic proportions, and she’s been like that ever since. All she cares about is high school popularity, and we pretty much got dragged into it by her too.”

“So do you think if we got them back together, it would fix everything?” you said hopefully.

They all looked at each other unsurely.

“No idea,” Minzy said. “It’s been four years, and I don’t think you can just magically fix that kind of damage.”

You smiled at her naivety. “Trust me,” you said with a grin. “With the power of love, you can fix everything.” After all, you were a matchmaker.

 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol found the other on the dance floor, grabbing his arm excitedly.

Baekhyun just glanced back at him. “Hey Chanyeol,” he said, turning back toward the other direction.

“Baek!” Chanyeol said again. “Kris and Tao are here!”

“Yeah, that’s nice,” Baekhyun replied distractedly, deflating the other’s excitement.

“What are you even doing?” he asked, noticing suddenly that Baekhyun was behaving rather strangely. He was in the middle of the dance floor, and he wasn’t even dancing.

“Not now, Chanyeol.” He waved him off and started inching his way through the crowd, leaving Chanyeol there feeling rather put out, but mostly just wondering what the hell he was doing.

He watched, perplexed, as Baekhyun crept between dancing bodies, tiptoeing conspicuously as if he didn’t want to be seen. It wasn’t until he was right behind Sungmin, who was just dancing with Sunny, that Chanyeol figured out what he was doing.

Without warning, Baekhyun kicked his leg into the backs of Sungmin’s knees, sending him sprawling forward into Sunny. There was a small commotion, as people stepped back from the flailing couple, and Baekhyun went to stand next to Sunny.

“What do you think you’re doing, man?” the former Hunter asked incredulously.

“Nothing!” Sungmin defended, straightening up. “Sunny, I’m really sorry,” he amended. “I got pushed from behind.”

“It’s okay,” she said, smiling brightly as ever.

“No, it isn’t okay!” Baekhyun cut in.

“It isn’t?”

“He was trying to force himself on you!” he accused, pointing a dramatic finger at Sungmin.

“What? No I wasn’t!”

“You’re nothing but a pervert!” Baekhyun shouted.

It was about this time that Chanyeol rolled his eyes and walked away.

 

In the bathroom, Jonghyun stared at himself in the mirror and sighed heavily, wondering when his entire life had spun out of his control.

He had a small mental breakdown standing outside the bathrooms and wondering just which one would be appropriate to go into, but he decided he’s a man damn it, and he opted for the men’s room. Luckily, no one was in the bathroom when he walked in, or he might just have had to brush it off as a mistake and find somewhere else to brood.

He was lost in thought when he heard the door creak open and he dashed into a stall and shut the door before he could be seen. There were two conversing voices, and at least one was fairly familiar.

“I’m telling you, the guy was insane. I don’t even want anything to do with CL, and he comes over and punches me out because she was talking to me!”

Jonghyun recognized Himchan’s voice, but he had to peek through the crack in the stall door to recognize the next speaker.

“Nobody wants anything to do with CL,” AJ remarked, somehow coldly sympathetic. “I’m surprised he even had friends around. Their whole crew must be a gang of delinquent nobodies.”

“Yeah,” Himchan sighed, examining his bruised jaw in the mirror. “At least one good thing’s come of tonight,” he said.

AJ raised his eyebrows in mild interest. “And that would be…?”

Himchan grinned. “Mary Sue said she would be my date tonight.”

Jonghyun’s heart skipped a beat. His sister said what? How many guys was she going around with? He didn’t even know who is sister was anymore.

“Did she really?” AJ smirked. “I thought she was seeing Nichkhun or something.”

Himchan just scoffed. “Nichkhun’s not interested in Mary Sue,” he said. “He told me himself, he’s only using her.”

This piece of information made Jonghyun’s blood boil. How dare that guy just play with his sister’s feelings like they were nothing?? Didn’t he know the effect he had on people?

“What could he possibly be using her for?” AJ chuckled.

Himchan shrugged. “Who knows what kinds of motives that guy has?” he murmured, wetting his hands and splashing a bit of water on his face.

Nothing else was said as the two finished up and left, and Jonghyun stepped out of the stall, gritting his teeth in anger at all this new insight. He started pacing as his mind raced. Mary Sue was seeing Nichkhun but cheating on him with Himchan, Nichkhun was using Mary Sue, and Chanyeol was left forgotten by the wayside. Who else was involved in all of this tangled drama??

He had to talk to someone. Anyone who would listen to him. Amber or Chanyeol or someone.

He had taken one step toward the door when it swung open again.

“Mary Sue??”

Jonghyun’s heart skipped in surprise.

“What?!”


	40. Chapter 40

“Mary Sue?! What are you doing in here?”

Jonghyun stood there staring at Donghae, mouth gaping, as he tried to come up with some sort of explanation as to why his sister would be in the men’s bathroom.

“It’s a long story,” he stalled, mind whirring through possible explanations. He bumped his head and got confused wandering into the bathroom. There was a crazy line and he just had to go now. He was avoiding people and thought they’d be less likely to find him in here.

But there was something so disarming about Donghae’s expression, a mixture of confusion and concern, and damnit, Jonghyun was just so tired of lying to the people he loved, and on some level he felt like Donghae deserved the truth. So he said, “I’m not Mary Sue.”

Donghae only seemed to become even more confused at the admission, so he elaborated.

“I’m Jonghyun.”

The other shook his head, eyebrows scrunched together in concern. “Mary Sue, I think you’re confused. Did you hit your hea—WOAH!” Donghae jumped back, eyes wide, as Jonghyun slid the long wig off of his head.

Jonghyun cleared his throat sheepishly. “So,” he said. “It’s a really, really… long story.”

Donghae stepped back, gripping the edge of the counter for support. “Okay…” he acknowledged, nodding slowly, preparing himself for the explanation.

Jonghyun took a deep breath, wondering where he should even begin. “It all started when Mary Sue was engaged to you,” he said. “And Himchan blackmailed her into going out with him as payment for ruining his priceless leather jacket. She couldn’t be in two places at once, so I pretended to be her, because we’re identical twins, and if somebody just put a long wig on me, nobody would be able to tell the difference between us.” He paused to let Donghae take in that bit of information first, before emphasizing. “Nobody.”

He waited for Donghae to nod in tentative understanding before continuing.

“So I was actually the one you were dating most of the time,” Jonghyun admitted. “And then after I knocked Himchan down at Homecoming, I didn’t really need to be Mary Sue anymore. But with the vampire apocalypse going on, I was just so stressed out, like I didn’t know who I was anymore. So when I put the wig on again in Mary Sue’s bedroom, the vampires captured me thinking I was her. And I guess my mom saw me too, and now my parents think I’m a transvestite and they’re trying to make me happy by accepting me the way that I am,” he explained.

Donghae raised his eyebrows, taking everything in.

“Except I’m not really a transvestite,” he added. “I’m just gay.”

Donghae let out a long controlled breath through his nose, holding his hand over his mouth as he let everything register. “So, your parents are trying to accept you for who you are,” he reiterated. “But you aren’t what they’re trying to accept.”

Jonghyun nodded. “And Key is upset with me for it,” he said. “I just feel like if I try to please everybody, I’ll be split in two.”

The low soft chuckle that came from Donghae startled Jonghyun a little. “I definitely know what that feels like,” he said, giving Jonghyun a warm smile. “You want to know what I think?”

Of course Jonghyun wanted to know what he thought. Every time he ran into Donghae by chance, things just suddenly seemed to make sense to him because of something the other said. He nodded eagerly.

“Your parents are trying really hard for you,” Donghae said, leaning against the counter. “It sounds like they really love you. And they’ll keep loving you, even after you tell them the truth.” He chuckled again. “I mean, they’re already coming to terms with the possibility of you being a transvestite, it can’t be much different if they know you’re gay.”

And there was something especially comforting about hearing Donghae say those words, even though he’d heard them from his other friends before.

“So, be who you are,” he concluded. “Exactly who you are, and nothing more or less. Everyone else will accept you just fine,” he said. “And if they don’t, then at least you haven’t lost yourself to them.”

This pep talk was just the push Jonghyun needed. “You know what?” he said, getting fired up. “You’re right. I am who I am!”

Donghae smiled and nodded in approval as Jonghyun continued.

“I am Jonghyun! I am not a transvestite!” He tossed the long wig into the corner of the bathroom. “I’m just gay!” He kicked off his heels to join the wig in the corner and squared his shoulders. “And I’m going to get my boyfriend back.”

And he marched out the door, past Donghae’s pleased grin, and into the chaos of the club.

 

After looking all over the club, you finally found who you were looking for out in the back alleyway.

“G-Dragon!” you said, rushing out the door, startling Zelo. You looked around at the three who were standing out there in the dark. “What are you guys doing out here?” you asked.

“Baby-face here is avoiding somebody,” Zico informed you.

Zelo scrunched up his nose and indignantly muttered, “Don’t call me that.”

You looked to Zelo, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Who are you avoiding?”

“Nobody,” he muttered, looking at the ground.

Zico scoffed. “Then why are you avoiding him?”

“He’s just somebody that I used to know,” Zelo huffed in annoyance.

“You’re just bitter because you two drifted after he started going to that ritzy school,” Zico teased, nudging his shoulder.

“No I’m not,” the younger argued, setting his jaw in a pout. “But he didn’t have to cut me off.”

You shook off the confusing pop culture references and focused on the real reason you were out here. “G-Dragon,” you said. “Can I ask you something?”

“Ay, your choice,” he remarked, opening his arms invitingly. “Drop it on me.”

“You still love CL, right?”

He bit his lip in hesitation before nodding slightly. “Yeah.”

“And if you had the chance to get back together, you would do it, right?”

G-Dragon looked down a little. “Yeah.”

“If you could say anything to CL right now, what would it be?”

He sighed and ran his palms over his forehead. “You’re my heartbreaker,” he remarked.

“Heartbreaker?” you clarified.

“H. E. A. R. T. Breaker,” he confirmed. “And my heart be breakin’, breakin’ all apart, remakin’.”

GD looked really sad to you in this moment.

“How can I recover it all?” he said.

 

Chanyeol lumbered his way back to the bar and away from the nonsense he’d witnessed on the dance floor, when—

“Damnit, how did you get here so fast?” he asked Baekhyun, who was eyeing the couple sitting at the counter. He rolled his eyes, letting out a noise of frustration as he was ignored, and went to go sit on the other side of the bar. He managed to catch a glimpse of Baekhyun knocking Sungmin’s elbow, causing him to spill his drink all over Sunny, and then what appeared to be Baekhyun accusing Sungmin of being a horrible person in some way and comforting Sunny with his arm around her shoulders.

Chanyeol huffed and sat his chin on his open palm. Baekhyun sure was pathetic, trying to prove to Sunny that he was better than her boyfriend. What a way to deal with his relationships.

 

When Jonghyun found Key on the dance floor, he found him pressed up against some guy whose face he couldn’t see. This was it, he thought. This was the time to prove himself.

He grabbed the guy by the shoulder to spin him around, and punched him in the face, sending him sprawling to the floor.

It was about two seconds later that he realized the person he just punched was Kai, and he couldn’t tell whether he felt guilty or proud at this revelation.

“What the hell?” Kai was holding his jaw with a look of incredulity painted across his face, and when he looked up and caught sight of Jonghyun standing over him, he could barely smirk at him without it causing him pain.

Key, meanwhile, was looking rather stunned. “What are you doing?” he demanded.

“This man is my boyfriend,” Jonghyun said loudly to Kai (and anyone else who could hear), pointing to Key. “And I would appreciate it if you step off.”

Then he turned to Key, who raised his eyebrows at him. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “I shouldn’t have tried to hide our relationship. There’s no shame in dating you, and in fact I’ve never been happier. And I’m not a transvestite!” he exclaimed, holding his arms up triumphantly. “I’m just gay!”

“So you told Mary Sue?” Key asked, crossing his arms.

Jonghyun’s arms fell back to his sides. “Well, no,” he admitted. “But Key, she wouldn’t understand, I’m telling you.”

Key huffed in exasperation and rolled his eyes. “Make her understand! You haven’t even really tried!”

“Key, I’m serious, she doesn’t get it—“

“Look,” Key said shortly. “Mary Sue is borderline mental, I know. But she needs to know about her twin brother’s life, especially something like this! Because frankly it would make our lives so much easier if she didn’t try to set us up with our friends!” he finished quickly.

“I know that,” Jonghyun argued. “But I really don’t think—“

“If you won’t tell her, then I will.”

Jonghyun gaped at him. “What?”

“If you won’t tell Mary Sue that we’re dating,” Key said slowly and deliberately, “then I will.”

Jonghyun could only stand there and stare at him.

Key took that as his answer. Without another word, he stalked off, brushing past Jonghyun’s shoulder, presumably off to find Mary Sue.

 

You were on your way to the bathroom when Key approached you, and you momentarily forgot that you weren’t talking to him because he hated you.

“Oh, hi Key—“

“Jonghyun’s gay.”

You didn’t think you understood him. “What?”

“Your brother is gay,” he reiterated.

“What do you mean?” you asked, completely clueless.

“I mean,” he said slowly, “that your brother likes men. He’s gay, Mary Sue.”

You weren’t really following what he was trying to say here. “Well sure,” you said. “I mean, Jonghyun likes everyone. He’s always been friendly and outgoing.”

“No, Mary Sue.” Key placed his hands firmly on your shoulders as if he could aim his words better into your head. “Jonghyun and I? We’re dating. Because he’s gay and I’m gay and we love each other.”

You furrowed your eyebrows at him a little, calculating his words.

“Could I spell it out any more?” he said.

Then you burst out laughing.

“Is something funny?” he demanded.

You could only speak between giggles. “Oh Key,” you laughed. “You’re so funny!”

“I don’t know why I’m funny.”

“Guys can’t love each other!” you exclaimed gleefully.

“Are you serious?” He raised his eyebrows. “Mary Sue, stop laughing.”

“It’s just…” You wiped a tear and held your stomach, which was hurting from laughing so much. “The notion is so absurd and unheard of!”

Key was speechless as he let his arms fall from your shoulders.

“You’re such a jokester, Key!” you giggled, slapping him on the arm and walking past him with a cheerful sigh.

He stood there, unable to move and staring straight ahead for the next minute and a half.

 

“You look like death,” Chanyeol commented as Kai slumped onto the stool next to him, a hand clamped to his jaw.

“I just got punched in the face,” he said, voice laced with disbelief. “ _Jonghyun_ punched me in the face.”

“Well,” Chanyeol sighed, looking him over. “You probably deserved it.”

“Yeah,” Kai muttered. “But it still fucking hurts.” He rubbed at the quickly forming bruise. “Damn, why did Lay have to train him so well?”

 

You were somewhat pleased to find that CL had still locked herself in the bathroom, her telltale sniffling sobs floating from the last stall. You tentatively walked up to the stall and tapped on the door.

“CL?”

“Go away,” she said.

“CL, I…I talked to G-Dragon a little bit for you,” you offered. “He wanted to tell you something.”

“Oh yeah?” She sniffled. “Well give him this message for me: I hate you.”

“Well maybe you should listen to—“

“I’m fine living without you,” she muttered, unwilling to let you finish.

That couldn’t be how she really felt about him. After all, CL was a diva, and if there was anything you knew about divas, they refused to admit their true feelings when they were hurt.

“Well… I’ll tell him that, but you also have to listen to this message,” you said.

She was silent, so you pressed forward.

“He said…” You tried to remember how he said it. “You’re his… heartbreaker? And his heart is breaking and remaking and…” You shook your head. This just sounded confusing. “Okay so I didn’t really understand him all that well, but I got the gist of it. Basically he’s heartbroken over you, and he wants to make it better.”

There was no answer, and you hovered there for a few moments before realizing that there wouldn’t be an answer no matter how long you waited there, so you made your way out.

 

Jonghyun was at a table along the wall with Amber, who was helping him remove as much of his makeup as she could, when Key slumped down into a chair beside him, looking a little bit shell shocked with his disbelieving expression.

“Woah there,” Amber remarked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Did it go okay?”

Key turned his stunned gaze to Jonghyun. “I…” He took a deep breath. “Am so sorry.”

The other two gaped at him.

“Did Key just say he’s sorry??” Amber stared wide-eyed between the two of them.

“For what?” Jonghyun laid a hand on Key’s.

Key shook his head, staring straight ahead. “You were right,” he said.

“Holy crap Jonghyun, you broke him.”

“About what?”

“She just…” Key’s mouth hung open. “She didn’t get it.” He ran a hand over his face. “No matter how I explained it to her, she just did not understand.”

Jonghyun rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “You tried.”

Key laid his head down on the table and sighed.

 

“Mary Sue!” You were greeted as you went out to the alley again. “Now it’s a party,” Seyong chuckled.

“Dude, you don’t even have a real reason to be out here,” Zico said, shoving the redhead’s shoulder. “Not like you got kicked out because of a fight or anything,” he muttered, then under his breath, “Pansy.”

“Maybe I just wanted to be around my brothers,” the other suggested, arms spread.

“Because you have no other friends,” Zico mumbled again.

You ignored the ensuing argument between the two and found GD again, crouched down by the wall.

“Hey, G-Dragon?”

He lifted his shoulders in acknowledgement and you sat down beside him.

“I talked to CL,” you began.

GD made no response, but you could tell he was listening.

“She wanted me to tell you…” You paused. There was no way you could tell G-Dragon what she had said. It would only hurt him, and you knew she didn’t mean what she said. What kind of matchmaker would you be if you went around telling the people that you were trying to get back together they hated each other?

You cleared your throat and began again. “She wanted me to tell you that what you said before… wasn’t enough to convince her how serious you are about her. So…Is there anything else you want to say?” Maybe she just needed to hear the right thing.

“My beautiful hangover,” he murmured.

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Come again?”

“My beautiful girl,” he said. “One-two-three-to the fo’ sho no one like you. There ain’t nobody can do them things you do, so true.”

“Okay, so to recap,” you cut in. “You think she’s beautiful and there’s no one like her or who can do the things she does?”

“So amazing, all the above,” he confirmed. “In a way you take you show love. You define us, and I just—“

“Wait,” you commanded, holding your hands up and nodding your head, trying to take in the information. You thought for a beat. “Okay,” you said, getting up to dash into the club again, muttering his words under your breath so you wouldn’t forget.

 

“Oh my god!” Krystal slammed her hands on the table, effectively startling Key into sitting up straight with a short yell.

“What is it, Krystal?” Amber asked, her eyebrows raised.

“This is serious,” the gossip girl replied as she slyly sat down in the open seat, the expression revealing a scandalous grin that suggested something far less serious than what she was about to spill. “I heard those guys that Mary Sue was hanging around—the one that punched out Himchan?—they’re in a gang!” Her voice was an excited hiss.

Jonghyun’s heart skipped a beat. “What?” How could Mary Sue be hanging around with a gang? Didn’t she understand how dangerous that was??

“I know!” Krystal squealed, clasping her hands in front of her face and then flattening them on the table again. “We have to tell someone!”

“I dunno if we should go spreading that around,” Amber reasoned.

“Of course, I know.” Krystal waved off the arguments. “I meant someone who could help. Like maybe that one—“

“Chanyeol,” Jonghyun cut her off. “He deserves to know what’s been happening with Mary Sue,” he said. “I have some things I’ve found out tonight too about the people Mary Sue has been hanging around with,” he said.

Krystal’s eyes lit up a little. “Really? What did you hear?”

Jonghyun stood up. “I’m going to go tell Chanyeol what you and I heard,” he said. “Thanks, Krystal—“

“I’m coming with you.” She stood up as well. “I mean, what if you forget something?”

He supposed that might have made sense if you really didn’t think about it, and nodded his agreement.

 

“Fuck,” Kai muttered under his breath. Chanyeol glanced at him to see him hunching over the bar, attempting to cover the side of his face with his shirt collar. “I hope he’s coming to talk to you, and not me,” he said.

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow and looked in the other direction just in time to see Jonghyun and Krystal standing right there.

“Hey Chanyeol!” she squealed in delight. “You’ll never guess what we heard about Mary Sue.”

He wasn’t sure he liked the weird sadistic glint in her eye.

Thankfully, Jonghyun cut in. “We thought you should know about the things we’ve been hearing,” he said gently.

Chanyeol swallowed and nodded slowly. “Alright,” he agreed. “Let’s hear it.”

“She’s been hanging around a gang,” Krystal blurted before anything else. “Those guys who were giving Himchan trouble are a part of it.”

“And speaking of Himchan,” Jonghyun cut in. “Apparently Mary Sue said she’d be his date tonight.”

“I heard she’s also two timing Himchan with that gang member who punched him out, too.”

“Oh, and Nichkhun is just using her for his own benefit,” Jonghyun added. “And something seems to be going on between her and Minho, but I have no idea what yet.”

Chanyeol waited a few seconds after they were finished, staring back and forth between them. He had no idea what to make of all this information. His stunned silence continued until Jonghyun and Krystal shared a nervous glance.

“We just thought you should know,” Krystal said, placing a hand on Chanyeol’s forearm before they both scurried off to let him register everything.

He spent maybe two minutes just staring off in the distance before Kai spoke up.

“You know,” he said. “If there was ever a time to go assert one’s masculinity, or whatever it is you’re trying to do.” He clapped a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder, knocking him out of his blank-faced reverie. “Maybe go do it before she tacks on a few more boyfriends to her list,” he advised.

 

“CL, G-Dragon thinks you’re beautiful and there’s nobody else like you and you do things other people can’t and you’re amazing and all of the above…” The long stream of loud words had exploded from your mouth the moment you had barged into that bathroom door, and now you were at the handicap stall, leaning against the door and trying to remember the words you (or rather, G-Dragon) wanted to say. “You define us and…something about a hangover…” You sheepishly grimaced at the door. “CL? Are you there?”

“I don’t care,” you heard her voice say.

You wondered how long she intended to brood in here. “Not even a little bit?”

“I don’t ca-a-a-a-a-a-are!”

When you stalked back into the alleyway to have another go at interpreting GD’s words, there was one more addition to the posse.

“Eli?”

He waved at you enthusiastically.

“Are you avoiding someone too?” you asked.

“Nah,” he answered. “I just like this guy too much to not be around him.” He slung an arm around Zelo, who impatiently shoved him off.

“Get away from me, man,” the younger muttered.

“Come on, man,” Eli said, pouting at him. “Don’t deny our r squared pie.”

You blinked and whipped your attention away from the distractions to focus on your mission. “G-Dragon!” He barely acknowledged you as you sat down beside him. “So um…That last message was kind of confusing to understand, maybe…maybe we should take another shot at it?”

You stared at his contemplative face for a long while when finally he said softly, “It’s all about you, my butterfly.”

You were slightly bewildered at how comprehensible he was suddenly being.

“You don’t know how much I love you,” he continued. “You are the only one girl, one love, one life.”

He was silent for a few moments. “Is that all?” you asked.

GD smiled a little at you. “Yeah,” he answered. “That be all I say.” Then he let a grin overtake the meek smile. “You’re special to me,” he added. “Your turn.”

 

Chanyeol needed to get some air. He pushed his way outside into the cool night air, a stark contrast to the stuffy hot atmosphere inside the club. He noticed somebody sitting on the curb, and with a thoughtful sigh he sat down next to him.

“Hey,” he greeted him, and sighed again.

The stranger glanced at him with a questioning expression. “Hey there,” he said flatly.

Chanyeol sighed again. “I noticed you sitting alone out here,” he said, trying to strike up some sort of conversation to connect with this person on some level.

“Yeah,” he said. “Just getting some fresh air.” He regarded Chanyeol with a strange look. “That’s all.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said. “Me too.”

The stranger went back to ignoring Chanyeol. The latter heaved a deep sigh, disturbing the other’s silence.

The stranger rolled his eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked out of obligation.

“No,” Chanyeol answered pitifully.

The other guy huffed in vague irritation, and flatly asked, “What is wrong?”

Chanyeol pouted. “My girlfriend hasn’t talked to me in weeks and I keep hearing about her two-timing and three-timing and four-timing all these other guys.” He bowed his head and ran his hands through his hair. “I just don’t know what to believe anymore.”

The reluctant listener furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “Have you tried talking to her?”

Chanyeol frowned. “No,” he admitted. “She just stopped talking to me and being around me and started being around all these other guys instead.”

He cringed at the condescending _tch!_ that was expelled from between the stranger’s teeth. “You’re listening to a bunch of rumors about your girlfriend, but you won’t try to find out the truth yourself?” He shook his head mirthfully. “Believe me when I say you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. Especially if it makes you doubt your significant other.” Then his expression became reassuring. “I’m sure she loves you,” he said with a tilt of his head.

“Wow,” Chanyeol murmured. “You sound like you’ve been through this kind of thing before.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” Chanyeol’s kindred spirit frowned thoughtfully. “There was a time I guess when I doubted my fiancé because I kept being told about what he was doing from other people. After I talked to him myself, I found out none of it was true, and we got past some things and…I’ve never been happier,” he sighed.

Chanyeol wished he could have that kind of wistful look in his eye, like everything was wonderful and nothing hurt. “What’s your fiancé’s name?” he asked sincerely.

The stranger glanced at him and then fixed his gaze ahead of them both. “Donghae.”

The name sparked something familiar in Chanyeol’s memory. “Donghae?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Why, have you two met or something?”

Chanyeol stared down at the concrete as he racked his brain. “I rescued him from some vampires,” he mumbled at his hands.

“Oh.” Donghae’s fiancé stared at the same spot Chanyeol was. “Thanks.”

 

It’s in the stairwell where Jonghyun overhears the voices of Minho and Fei, which he had sought out in hopes of somehow figuring out what was going on between Minho and Mary Sue because Krystal suggested, for the sake of Mary Sue’s safety of course, that they go around getting as much additional information as they could.

Jonghyun had no doubt Krystal was not only seeking information, but giving it freely, but he tried not to think about it and instead focused his full attention on the reverberating voices wafting through the open doorway.

“You’re cracking,” she remarked, grin evident in her tone.

“Shut up,” he muttered, sounding tired and annoyed.

“Oh come on,” she chuckled. “You’ve been a disinterested block of ice ever since I’ve known you. You have to let me take some pleasure in seeing you like this.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Her laugh insisted his attempts at remaining secretive were futile, and his following sigh gave him away.

“I don’t see why you should torment me about it,” he said lowly.

“I’m not tormenting you,” she said innocently. “I just think it’s hilarious how fickle you can be. You were cold to him, you know? And then as soon as he starts hanging around Mary Sue of all people, that’s when you feel threatened.”

Jonghyun’s ears perked at the mention of his sister, and he listened closer to the words that were being said.

“Wouldn’t you be?” Minho said softly, and Fei scoffed.

“Maybe if I actually liked the guy,” she said, and then added offhandedly, “And maybe if Mary Sue wasn’t completely oblivious to everything.”

There was a pause that seemed very telling.

“Wait, you do like him?” Another pause and she gasped. “Oh my god. And I just thought you missed the attention!”

“Wow, thanks,” he monotoned.

Jonghyun frowned and tried to think over the conversation. From what he could tell, Minho’s only connection to Mary Sue was through someone else.

As he stalked away from the stairwell back to the rest of the club, his eyebrows creased together as he wondered just who that could be.

 

“CL?”

You didn’t know why you kept coming back to this bathroom, but every time you did, you found her still holed up in the handicap stall, so your efforts certainly weren’t wasted. Maybe she stayed because she knew you would come back. Maybe she wanted to hear GD’s words because she really did want to get back together. Your matchmaker heart jumped with giddiness.

“Hey, CL, G-Dragon really does love you.”

“Oh yeah?” She sniffed sourly. “What convoluted message did he give you this time?”

“He said that it’s all about you,” you told her. “And you don’t know how much he loves you. You’re the only girl in his life, and his only love, and you’re really special to him.”

It was silent for a few minutes before you heard the soft slide and click of the lock on the door and it opened a crack, revealing a sliver of CL’s tear-and-makeup-stained face. “He really said that?” she sniffled.

You beamed and nodded. “Yeah,” you confirmed. “He called you his butterfly.”

The door closed again, and you were worried you’d said something wrong, but then you heard CL loudly blowing her nose before the stall door opened again and she stepped out, face slightly cleaner of the makeup streaks. “Where is he?”

 

It took a few minutes of searching the entire club for Chanyeol to spot the exact person he was looking for. They really needed to talk, and it was about time Chanyeol instigated this conversation. Before Himchan could get away, Chanyeol stole his attention with a, “Hey you!”

He probably could have been more creative than that.

Himchan regarded him with a disinterested expression. “Do I know you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said. “Well, okay no you don’t.” Keep it together, Chanyeol. “I’m Mary Sue’s boyfriend,” he finally said. “Her _only_ boyfriend.”

Himchan only broke into a chuckle, eyebrows raised in an expression that was almost sympathetic, but the kind of sympathy one has for somebody who falls off a bike and lands on a railing with their crotch. “Her boyfriend, huh?” He licked his lips and stepped closer to Chanyeol challengingly. “Then, why’d she say she would be my date for tonight?” he questioned rhetorically.

“Maybe she did!” Chanyeol argued. Really helping your case, way to go. “But I know deep down that I’m her true love. And it’s the kind of love that survives everything!” He was really getting worked up now. “Even a vampire apocalypse, which means it can definitely survive you coming in between it.”

“Look,” that prick cut Chanyeol off with an unamused hand. “As entertainingly delusional as this conversation is, I’m trying to find Mary Sue. I need to make sure she’s not in any kind of trouble with that gang she’s been hanging around.”

“No!”

Himchan looked at him as if he were insane.

“She’s my girlfriend!” Chanyeol argued. “I’ll be the one to save her from the gang, not you!” He jerked a thumb to his puffed out chest.

“Well, you’ve been doing a bang up job protecting her from them so far,” Himchan accused. “You’ll see, when _I_ save Mary Sue, she’ll realize my love for her, and then I’ll be her boyfriend again, and you’ll be out of the picture.”

“No, because _I’ll_ save Mary Sue!” Chanyeol persisted. “And when I do, she’ll see that I’m still her knight in shining armor, and we’ll live happily ever after without you!”

“Yeah, we’ll see!”

“We will!”

“Yeah!”

“Alright!”

“Fine!”

They stared each other down, nostrils flaring, before both of them abruptly separated and went opposite directions to go find Mary Sue. He would see. They would all see. Chanyeol was going to be the one to win her in the end. He had to find her and talk to her, clear up everything they had between them so they could finally be together again.

But not before he confronted Nichkhun.

 

The alleyway was reverently quiet when you and CL walked outside, the metal door clanging loudly as it closed. Almost immediately, CL’s and G-Dragon’s eyes locked together, and they stood there staring at each other for a few moments before you gave her a little nudge and she stepped forward, and so did he. And they kept walking forward until they finally embraced, and your matchmaker heart swelled in your chest and you beamed at the sight, and then proceeded to listen in on their softly spoken conversation. Ah, young love.

“You punched Himchan because you saw him talking to me?”

“Yeah, I saw him.”

“Why did you leave me if you still had feelings for me, stupid?”

“I told you, I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“You did the wrong thing, you know that?”

“Why?”

“Cutting me out of your life like that and disappearing? That’s what hurt me. You should’ve just told me what was going on!”

“Sure, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

Eventually you looked around and finally realized that the last member of the gang was present. It had been a while since you had gotten the chance to talk to Ren and clear things up, so you approached him and leaned against the brick wall beside him. You were feeling pretty good about your communication skills tonight.

“So,” you began.

He raised an eyebrow but otherwise ignored you.

You took a deep breath. “My name is Mary Sue,” you said. “I like strawberry ice cream.”

Ren sighed heavily like he was giving up. “Minki,” he finally said. “People call me Ren. And pistachio is my favorite ice cream flavor.”

You grinned widely and continued. “I get really upset if my friends turn against me,” you said. “But I respect their boundaries because sometimes people just need a break.”

His lips formed a thoughtful pout. “I hate when people upset the control I have over them and others, and also aspects of my life.” He took a deep breath. “But I guess I have to respect their decisions and actions. Because I can’t control everyone, I’ve found.”

“Why did you join the gang?” you asked him. You studied his face as he thought, and it was a few moments before he answered.

“I was tired,” he said. “Tired of being humiliated because people thought I was a girl. I wanted to prove I was colder and tougher and more powerful than everyone, so I joined the ranks and intimidated and manipulated my way to a high position.” He chewed on the inside of his mouth. “That’s why I wanted to prove to you the same thing,” he said. “By making you my woman slave.”

You stared up at the sky as you thought it over. “It all makes sense,” you said. “I understand now.”

He raised his eyebrows at you. “You do?”

“Yeah.” You grinned at him. “Hey, Ren, since we’re all here, do you think we might have time for another session or two? I think tonight is a night for healing and fixing relationships.”

His expression was bewildered, but you only grinned wider.

 

Amber, Key and Krystal were at their table when Jonghyun ambled over, his bare feet beginning to feel sticky from the dirty club floor.

“Did you figure anything out?” Amber asked him as he sat down.

He leaned forward to rest his chin on his hand. “Well, Minho’s beef with Mary Sue is he feels threatened by her because I guess she keeps getting the attention of some guy.”

“Nichkhun,” Key supplied.

Jonghyun raised his eyebrows. “Did you hear something about him?”

“No,” Key huffed. “That was just obvious? I mean I haven’t talked to the guy much, but I know what goes on in this school,” he explained. “More exclusively, I can fucking tell when a guy is pining after another guy, and Minho is totally after Nichkhun.”

“Do you think Nichkhun likes Minho too?” Krystal asked with a glint in her eye.

Key just shrugged. “No idea,” he replied unhelpfully. “That guy’s pretty hard to read though, honestly. I don’t trust him.”

“Key, you don’t know him,” Amber argued.

“That’s exactly why I don’t trust him!” Key held a bottled water up to his lips as he explained. “Most people I can figure out just by watching them for ten seconds, but not him. He puts up walls, I’m telling you.” He took a quick swig between his sentences. “Never trust a guy who puts up walls. I’m pretty sure he’s hiding something.”

“What do you think he’s using Mary Sue for?” Jonghyun wondered aloud, voice laced with concern.

“No idea,” Key said again. “Who knows what his motives are?”

“Speaking of Mary Sue, where has she been all night?” Amber glanced around the club. “I haven’t seen her since she gave Key an aneurism earlier.”

“Oh, I heard she was out in the alleyway with those guys from that gang,” Krystal said flippantly. “And a bunch of other guys too.” She gasped, her eyes lighting up excitedly. “Do you think _all_ of them are in that gang?”

The other three stared at her with mixing degrees of incredulity.

“Why the fuck wouldn’t you mention something like that before?” Key demanded.

“We have to tell Chanyeol,” Jonghyun urged, and they all stood to find Mary Sue’s boyfriend.

 

“Hey you!” Chanyeol should really come up with more original ways to get people’s attention.

“Hey, Chanyeol,” Nichkhun greeted back with a smile. _A smile full of deception, no doubt!_ “Damn, you look really good tonight. But you’ve probably heard that from just about everyone by now.”

“I”—Chanyeol stopped, registering the compliment with a tilt of his head and a bashful smile. “Really? I mean”—Damnit Chanyeol, don’t succumb to his charms! Nichkhun really knew how to disarm a person. “We need to talk,” he said firmly. Then, when Nichkhun raised his eyebrows inquisitively, he elaborated. “About Mary Sue.”

The Don Juan of Mordney High seemed to suddenly understand, nodding in acknowledgement. “I see,” he said.

“You’ve been dating her behind my back,” Chanyeol accused.

“Well”—

“You stole her away from me with your impossible charm.”

Nichkhun chuckled and shook his head.

“And it turns out you’ve just been using her the entire time”—

“Chanyeol.”

“Completely disregarding her obvious feelings for you”—

“We were never dating.”

“And—what?”

“There was never anything romantic between Mary Sue and me,” Nichkhun said, throwing Chanyeol rather off-track.

“Oh.” Well, this just got awkward. “Then, what are you using her for?” he asked.

“I just wanted her help with my own romantic endeavors,” he explained. “Besides, even if I did feel that way about her, it would never work,” he mused.

“Why?” Chanyeol asked, and Nichkhun just smiled at him as if he knew something about Chanyeol that he didn’t.

“Because she’s too in love with you,” he said.

Wow. Chanyeol didn’t know what to say, but he sure couldn’t help the grin overtaking his face. Man, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t hate Nichkhun.

“See you around, Chanyeol,” the other said, turning away to head out. As he did so, a slip of paper fell from his pocket.

“Wait,” Chanyeol called, bending down to pick it up, but the thumping of the music drowned him out. A glance at the writing on it caught his attention, and he unfolded it the rest of the way. What it said baffled him:

Zico says  
Invite everyone to the  
Club  
Or else

What a strange format for a note. If he read the first letters down, it almost looked like a name.

…

Wait.

 

The round of trust falls in the alleyway was one of the most beautiful, tear-jerking things you’ve ever seen. Zico and G-Dragon embraced the epic bromance that had formed over your sessions, and after a quick “no homo” that you figured was some sort of inside gang lingo you didn’t understand, Eli and Zelo also fell into each other’s arms. Even Ren got in on the action, and you and CL as well.

They would have trust fallen until the first golden streaks of morning had you not brought an end to it and gathered them into a standing circle so you could begin the next session of everyone’s therapy.

“So, I’m sure we’ve all perfected the trust fall by now,” you said with a grin. “And it seems like our relationships with each other have really improved and even been fixed! But there’s one more thing we have to do to make sure we stay on good terms with each other. We have to always be _honest_ with each other.”

You looked around and let the statement sink in for a few moments.

“There’s nothing that opens up communication, and therefore understanding, respect and trust, like honesty. So I was thinking—“

There was a clanging _SLAM_ before you could even finish your sentence, and suddenly your alleyway session was being ambushed by lots of bodies. For a second you thought maybe the club was on fire and everyone was escaping. Some people were even screaming.

But then a pair of strong arms wrapped around you and a deep voice said in your ear, “Mary Sue, I’m here to save you!”

You had no idea what you needed to be saved from, or what was even going on!

“What?!”


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for violence and injury. There is a hospital scene, but it's too absurd in several respects to be taken seriously.

“Well well well. What have we here?”

“Like a mouse in a trap.”

“Didn’t think we would find you all out here?”

“Yeah, Mary Sue’s like a siren, she’s so easy to find. Her loose tongue led us straight here.”

“It’s you!”

You had no idea what was going on. Everyone was spread out around you and staring each other down. It was like a massive face off.

“What do you want?” Seyong demanded from the sudden surge of people.

“Besides another bruise to match the one on the other side of your face,” Zelo quipped.

“Easy,” Himchan said, his voice close to your ear. “You let Mary Sue go, and anyone else you’re keeping hostage with your sick notes.”

As your eyes glazed over everyone’s faces, you noticed Zico’s eyes narrow menacingly as he glared at Nichkhun, whose jaw was tensed as he glared right back.

“Or what?” Ren said with a hostile smirk. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you have no leverage or collateral.”

“Didn’t you know?” Himchan retorted. “We’re bounty hunters.”

Every body in the alley became somehow stiller, and Ren cocked an eyebrow. “Bounty hunters?”

“Of course. How do you think we became so popular?”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ren muttered scathingly.

There was a short pause as several eyes shot toward Himchan.

“Okay, we’re not really bounty hunters,” Himchan admitted. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not serious. And totally capable of taking you down.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Your hair stood on end at the sight of Ren’s morbid grin, and you could feel the tension in the room shoot up, like the moments just before an explosion. About a dozen bodies fell into a stance for a fight, when suddenly—

_CLANG!_

The door swung open once more, and a bunch more people spilled out of it into the alleyway, surrounding the group already there.

“Get your hands off my girlfriend!”

“Mary Sue, are you okay?”

“Oh my god! When did CL join the gang?”

“What’s going on? Why is everyone out here all of a sudden?”

“Do you think that gang member is cheating on Mary Sue with CL?!”

“Why did you drag me out here?”

“This is Mordney High’s most scandalous love triangle ever!”

“Everybody shut up!”

The crowd was silenced by Ren’s deafening command.

“You can step off now,” Himchan informed Chanyeol. “We have this situation under control, and as you can see, I’ve already saved Mary Sue. Before you,” he emphasized.

“What I see is you holding her hostage in the middle of an alleyway in a crowd of dangerous gang members,” Chanyeol growled. “She’s hardly safe with you.”

You had no idea what they were even talking about.

“Excuse me, who are you?” Ren questioned icily, visibly annoyed at being ignored by the tall person in front of him.

“Chanyeol.” He turned around to address Ren coolly. “Park Chanyeol. And I’m Mary Sue’s boyfriend.” He turned back to Himchan. “Her _only_ boyfriend.”

“Mary Sue has a boyfriend?” Zico muttered.

A few of the other gang members shrugged. “She never mentioned him,” Eli said.

A muscle above Chanyeol’s eyebrow visibly twitched. “Well, she does!” he said loudly and pointedly, staring straight at Himchan. “And only one, too! And that’s me.”

You could barely hear the chuckle that bubbled up from Himchan’s throat.

“And if anyone’s going to save her, it’s me, because _I’m_ the one who _always_ saves her.” He took a menacing step forward, gaze unmoving and unblinking. “So let her go,” he ordered.

“You’re too late,” Himchan murmured tauntingly, smirk evident in his voice.

Chanyeol’s expression darkened, but before anyone could react—

_CLANG! CRACK! THUD!_

“Oh, shit, guys, I broke the door.”

“So this is where the party got off to!”

“Wait, none of these people are vampires. They’re just a bunch of nonthreatening high school kids.”

“Hey, some of us are very threatening high school drop outs!”

“Somebody’s a high achiever over there.”

“Yeah, and look where it got you. Petty arguments over convoluted relationship issues that have nothing to do with you, all wrapped up in the glamour of standing next to a dumpster in a dimly lit alleyway.”

“Living it up over here.”

“Sunny! Thank God you’re okay!”

“Hey Chanyeol, can you maybe fill us in on what’s going on out here?”

“Yeah, and skip the high school gossip and get straight to the point. This whole night’s been confusing as hell to follow.”

“Well, right now there’s kind of this three-way face off happening over Mary Sue,” Chanyeol explained. “There’s the gang, which is most of the people standing behind me, the popular crowd, those people over there,” he gestured vaguely with his left arm, “plus this douchebag with the cage hold on Mary Sue.” He grit his teeth and swallowed. “And then there’s us.”

“Well,” Suho nodded with a cordial smile, scanning the alleyway as he took in the information. “Seems like this situation is under control,” he said with a grin. “What do you need us for?”

You got the sense that was the tone he used whenever he used to fight vampires. It sounded insincere, like he was bluffing.

“I was thinking we could take them all out pretty easily,” Chanyeol said seriously.

“Dude, these guys are all human,” Chen protested.

“Yeah, the most we could do is keep them from hurting each other,” Xiumin agreed.

“They can’t hurt each other if they’re all unconscious.”

The statement rang through the air after it was said, and after a moment, Kai shrugged and pulled his face into a noncommittal expression. “I’m down.”

“It should be easy for you,” murmured someone lowly. Everyone’s attention turned toward Ren, whose unsettling smirk and dark, eerie gaze, as well as the blade swinging from his fingers, had several people backing away from him to create a wider radius around him. “After all, we’re just a bunch of nonthreatening high school kids.”

“Easy, Ren,” Eli warned under his breath.

“I mean, you’re right,” Ren continued, staring straight at Chanyeol as he twirled the knife. “None of us have the kind of experience it would take to be able to overcome a whole team of… is vampire hunters the impression you’re trying to give?” He chuckled darkly, a low, quiet growl of a sound. “How can we even compare?”

“Ren, take it easy,” Eli hissed more urgently, masking Zelo’s whispered whimper of, “Not again...”

“Especially since we’re so outnumbered.” Slowly, Ren took one step forward.

“Ren!” Eli barked.

“Hey, why are you fighting it?” Zico remarked, shaking out his shoulders as he bounced on the balls of his feet. “Leader’s gearing up and ready to go, we should be too.”

“Let’s get wild,” G-Dragon agreed, a wolfish grin spreading across his face.

Eli stared apprehensively at his fellow gang members. Seyong was the one to return his gaze.

“Stay loyal to the brotherhood, Eli,” he said, as if he was reminding him of their one cardinal rule. Then he looked back at the scene and pulled his shoulders back, hands tensing.

“I have one request,” Ren said softly, staring up into Chanyeol’s face.

“And what’s that?” Chanyeol responded menacingly, eyes narrowed and body completely tensed.

Ren’s smirk was deceptively sweet and unsettling as ever. “You’ll go easy on us newbies, won’t you?”

Your heart rate spiked as Ren’s knife swung forward, and suddenly the entire alleyway was in an uproar. Chanyeol jumped back and knocked over you and Himchan, and suddenly you were crawling on the ground toward some corner that was safer than the middle of everyone’s feet. Zico and Seyong dove forward into the growing fray, and Eli was shoved into the wall by AJ and the two of them fell to the ground engaged in their own struggle. Hunters were running in and pulling Ren off of Chanyeol and gang members off of high school students and vice versa. You had to admit, you had been anticipating a completely different outcome than just a regular fight, but this was a bit of a relief.

As soon as he was free, Chanyeol rolled over and stood to grab Himchan, who was fighting his way through several scraps back toward the door leading into the club. Before Himchan could get within three feet of it, Chanyeol grabbed him to spin him around and punched him square in the jaw, sending him stumbling backward and reeling. Chanyeol grinned proudly, standing tall and shaking his hand out.

“That’s for trying to steal my girlfriend,” he said, then grabbed the collar of Himchan’s jacket and dragged him upright. When he turned around, most of the action had halted, and every single gang member and person from the popular crowd who had barged in on the gathering was caught in the hold of one of the Hunters.

Fei and Jessica had attacked CL as soon as G-Dragon left her side to fight with his fellow gang members, and now each of them was being restrained by Kai and Baekhyun, respectively, while Amber and Krystal were standing by CL, having helped to break up the catfight. You watched as the two males exchanged knowing grins from behind the girls’ backs. Baekhyun seemed to be handling Jessica fairly gently compared to the rough hold Kai had on Fei, and he smirked and pulled her tighter when she struggled and snarled.

From the flashes of the scene you could remember, G-Dragon hadn’t even really had a target. He just seemed to be fighting whomever he could, reveling in the excitement of the crowded brawl. Even now he was grinning, the spark of adrenaline alive in his eyes as Kris restrained him.

Lay was standing behind Ren with his arms held tightly around him. Ren was struggling violently and Lay was bleeding, but he seemed to have been able to keep the gang leader contained.

“You alright, Lay?” Suho, who had a scowling Seyong stuck in a half nelson, nodded toward his fellow former Hunter.

Lay nodded, panting heavily and maintaining a quivering hold. “You never get used to the feeling, no matter how many times you get stabbed,” he grit out, clearly expending a lot of energy on just trying to stop Ren from escaping his arms and trying to stab more people.

Zico was also proving to be a difficult captive, twisting and kicking his legs in the air as he fought to get free from Tao’s iron grip. He had launched himself at Nichkhun at the very first opportunity, tackling him to the ground and wailing on him, and now Nichkhun’s lip was bleeding and his face was sporting a bloom of reddish purple on the side of it. Zico had a bit of a black eye though, so clearly Nichkhun could handle himself well enough to fight back. But Nichkhun wasn’t putting up any fight at all to Xiumin, who was standing behind him and tightly gripping his elbows. In fact, he seemed fairly calm, not even sparing another glance at his attacker, as if Zico was not even worth his attention.

“Hey, Xiumin?” Lay said through clenched teeth. “Think you could trade off and come help me out here?” He and Ren were shaking just a little more violently, and it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to keep his hold on him much longer.

After a pause and with a tilt of his head, Xiumin beckoned Key and Jonghyun over to keep a restraint on Nichkhun, who raised an eyebrow and glanced back at them with a ghost of a smirk as they did.

With both of them on him, Xiumin and Lay could force Ren into a painful looking kneeling position with his arms held up behind his back. He twisted and fought like an animal, but they managed to subdue him, and he stared at the ground, fuming with rage.

“Alright then,” Chen said, standing behind a stoic kneeling AJ. “Now that we’re all being civil, I think it’s time for a family discussion.”

“What’s there to discuss?” AJ spat out, along with a few flecks of blood.

Chen raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat pointedly. “Well, first of all, how you barreled straight toward that guy.” He nodded across the way at Eli, whom Luhan had pinned against the brick wall. “Clearly, there are some issues you two need to work out.”

“There’s nothing,” AJ insisted.

“That’s believable,” Chen remarked.

Suddenly, there was a struggle near where you were hiding as Fei let out a growl of frustration.

“Easy there, kitten,” Kai muttered, clearly enjoying the position they were in.

“I swear, if you call me that one more time”—

“You’ll do all sorts of awful things to me?”

She uttered a noise of disgust and rolled her eyes.

“I would never disrespect you like that,” Baekhyun murmured quietly to Jessica, his grip on her arms hardly restraining. She pointedly ignored him.

“Maybe we should get to the whole point of why everyone was fighting in the first place,” Kris said pointedly, commanding everyone’s attention.

All the eyes turned to you, hiding in your corner against the wall.

Then several things happened at once.

With a look of urgency, Nichkhun suddenly forcefully yanked his arms out of Key’s and Jonghyun’s grasp, just as you heard the loud _CLANG!_ of the door as someone stumbled upon your alleyway scene, as well as a panicked “Mary Sue!”

The next thing you knew, everything went black.

 

_Beep…Beep…Beep…_

It was so quiet in the fluorescently lit hospital room that the sound emitting from the machine was deafening. It sent Jonghyun’s nerves on edge. He kept anticipating the sudden break in the pattern, followed by the never-ending tone as the green line went flat. He kept dreading the moment he might lose his sister forever.

The doctors said if she didn’t wake up soon, she might suffer permanent brain damage or, even worse, she might never wake up from her coma. The brick that fell on her head after that guy randomly stumbled outside onto the scene, hitting the heavy metal door against the wall and knocking it loose, had knocked her out cold. It was kind of ironic. Everyone in the alleyway had been fighting over her, and at the last moment this happened. It was like the fates were telling them no one could have Mary Sue.

Jonghyun’s parents were sitting on the other side of the hospital bed, staring down at Mary Sue. They looked extremely worried, and Jonghyun felt terrible for them. They had been so concerned for him and his sister and the possibility that they could be getting into situations where they could get hurt, and now their worst fears had come true.

He felt terrible for Chanyeol, who had insisted he would be the one to protect her, but had failed to do so. And now Chanyeol was sitting with his head in his hands in a hard plastic chair in the corner of the room, drowning in the guilt while the other eleven former Hunters stood around him.

He felt terrible for those who were close to Mary Sue. Amber, Key, Krystal, Sunny, Sungmin, Donghae and Eunhyuk all really cared about her. They were some of her best friends, and had even fought to protect her at some point, and now they had to see her like this.

He felt terrible for all the gang members and popular kids. They had been Mary Sue’s friends, too. They all cared about her just like her other friends, and now they were all crammed into this small hospital room waiting for her to wake up.

He felt terrible for Bang Yongguk, the random guy who had walked out into the alleyway. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now he was caught up in all of this mess as well. It’s not like he’d had any former connection with anyone else here. And yet here he was, standing in the corner with his eyes trained on Mary Sue as well.

Jonghyun felt terrible for everyone, especially Mary Sue. This whole world was so unfair.

“This never would’ve happened,” Himchan muttered through gritted teeth. “If you didn’t try to play hero.” He shot a glare at Chanyeol, who only sunk lower in his chair, eyes focused on the floor beneath him.

“This wasn’t Chanyeol’s fault,” Baekhyun shot back. “If anything, it’s the gang’s fault for getting her caught up in this mess.”

“Hey, we weren’t doing her any harm,” Zico defended. “She’s a part of our family now.”

“Family,” Nichkhun scoffed. “Who would want to be a part of your family? Dirty and delinquent.”

“You know,” Amber cut in. “Your record isn’t exactly clean yourself, Nichkhun.”

The deceitful Casanova grit his teeth in silence.

“Am I the only one who thinks she had it coming?” Key chimed in. “No? Okay.”

“If only you hadn’t opened that door!” An accusatory finger was pointed at the flinching Bang Yongguk.

“Wait guys!” Zelo shouted. “The bonding exercises.”

Everyone stared questioningly at the youngest gang member.

“Trust, respect, understanding, trust, honesty,” he recited. “Don’t you see?”

“You said trust twice.”

“It spells _truth_.” He looked around at everyone in the room, then at Mary Sue with a reverent understanding. “All along, we’ve been using acronyms for our own selfish purposes,” he said. “But Mary Sue was using them for good.”

There was a pause as this revelation hung still in the air.

“Zico?” Seyong was looking at him almost apologetically, and Zico met his gaze with a questioning eyebrow crease. “I uh… I used your toothbrush. Like a bunch of times.”

Zico looked like he was about to murder the sheepish looking Seyong, but another voice interrupted.

“I like Nichkhun.”

Many pairs of eyes focused on Minho, several of them incredulous. He was staring downward, but he glanced up to meet Nichkhun’s eye.

Nichkhun responded with a small smirk. “Well I was using Mary Sue to make you jealous.”

Minho nodded slightly and chewed on the corner of his lip. “Guess it worked.”

“Guess so,” Nichkhun agreed, his eyes lighting up as a grin overtook his features.

Mary Sue would’ve loved to see this, Jonghyun thought. That is, if she had any grasp on the concept of homosexuality. She really loved seeing new couples brought together, especially under her influence in some way.

“I’ve been trying to break up Sunny and Sungmin,” Baekhyun admitted from the corner, looking forlorn.

“Why would you want to do that?” Sunny gasped in surprise.

Baekyun looked so desperate. “Because you’re just so perfect, and I don’t know, I wanted to be part of that.” His shoulders slumped. “But it’s pretty obvious that almost nothing will ever break you two apart.”

Sungmin wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and shot Baekhyun an affirmative smirk, which Baekhyun returned with a subtle smirk of his own.

“I was avoiding Yongguk,” Zelo said in a small voice, staring down at the ground away from the man in question. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Yongguk frowned, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Well I was looking for you,” he replied.

“Really?” Zelo looked up in surprise.

Yongguk nodded. “After I heard you were there,” he said. “Didn’t expect to find you like this, though,” he admitted.

They stared at each other for a moment or two without saying anything, and Jonghyun figured that was a conversation for a less crowded place.

“In Vegas, Tao and I— _oof!_ ”

Jonghyun looked over to see Kris bent double and holding his stomach, Tao having apparently just elbowed him in the gut.

“You what?” Lay asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kris shook his head. “Nothing,” he grunted. “Gambled a bunch. Got drunk.” He straightened up with a pained look and a quick exhale. “That’s all,” he assured.

Several Hunters nodded in acceptance.

After a short pause, Key nudged Jonghyun and raised his eyebrows at him. Jonghyun took a couple seconds to understand, but he did once Key tilted his head in his parents’ direction.

It was time to finally tell his parents the truth. He took a deep breath.

“Mom? Dad?”

They both looked at him teary-eyed.

He swallowed nervously. “I’m uh… I’m not a transvestite.”

He could read the blatant confusion on their faces.

“I’m just gay.”

They took a couple seconds to take in the information.

“Oh, thank god,” his mother sighed, putting a hand over her heart.

“What?”

“Son, we were so worried about you,” his father said, holding his mom’s hand tightly.

“We thought maybe there was some sort of twisted mentality there.”

“Yes, like you wanted to become your sister or something.”

“We were afraid to bring it up like that, but…”

“You know we love you no matter what, and we would accept you for who you are.”

“We just want you to be happy.”

Jonghyun wanted to cry, he was so relieved. “Mom, Dad. I love you.”

“We love you too, Jonghyun,” his mom said. “But if you’re not a transvestite…”

They both exchanged looks of slight confusion.

“Why were you dressed like your sister?” she asked.

Jonghyun almost laughed. “It’s a long story,” he explained.

It was then Chanyeol took a deep breath and sat up in his chair. “Mr. and Mrs. Mary Sue’s parents,” he addressed.

They both turned to him with questioning expressions.

“I’m not the perfect boyfriend you think I am,” he admitted. “I was dating your daughter before too,” he said. “And I’m the reason she kept sneaking out at night. It’s my fault she made you worry, and it’s my fault she died during the vampire apocalypse.”

Mary Sue’s parents looked horrified as he continued.

“It’s my fault she got hurt,” he said, defeated. “I didn’t protect her enough. And I’m sorry.”

Before they could respond, Mary Sue started stirring in her bed. Everyone crowded around her and leaned down to see if she was okay. Chanyeol got up from his seat and strode across the room to the foot of her bed, and Jonghyun could feel the hard thud of his heartbeat as he waited with baited breath for his sister to come to.

Relief washed over him when she opened her eyes. Her eyebrows creased together as she looked around at all the faces leaning over her.

“Give her some room,” Suho said, and most of the people backed up to let her breathe.

Jonghyun smiled at his sister, and she smiled back, her eyes falling with recognition on him and then his parents, and also Key and Amber and several other people. Chanyeol grinned and leaned in close, taking her hand.

“Mary Sue, I’m so glad you’re okay,” he sighed. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you. And I’m sorry I’ve been a terrible boyfriend because I was too afraid to talk to you. I promise I’ll be the best boyfriend in the entire world from now on.”

That look of confusion on Mary Sue’s face made Jonghyun’s gut drop uneasily, and she only uttered one word of response.

“What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the werewolf tease.


	42. Chapter 42

"Do I look good in these?"  
  
You looked up at your boyfriend as he posed with a ridiculously large pair of sunglasses on his face, the bright green frames extending a few inches out past his face. You just giggled in response, causing his expression to turn a little sober. He took the sunglasses off and put his hand in yours as you continued your walk through the mall.  
  
"Don't seem too excited," he teased softly.  
  
"Sorry, Himchan," you said with a smile that didn't quite reach your eyes. It's just, with the whole memory loss thing, you had a hard time assimilating back into normalcy. Or at least, what you thought was normal for you before you lost your memory. Everything around you seemed only vaguely meaningful, and the relationships you apparently had formed, you only had fragments of memories from them. It was like you were just suddenly thrust into somebody else's story and given no backstory of how you ended up there aside from random pieces of information that people told you, and you just had to trust them.  
  
It was all a bit unsettling, and you would explain this to Himchan now if you hadn't already done so a few times before. At least he was understanding about the whole thing. If nothing else, you were just really happy that past you had managed to get a boyfriend like Himchan. You didn't remember much about your relationship exactly, just some vague memories about dating him and going to Homecoming with him. Sort of.  
  
Well, Sunny had informed you that you had gone to Homecoming with Himchan, which must have meant that it was a pretty serious relationship. Either way, you were glad that he was here to help you through this whole amnesia thing.  
  
"I just wish I remembered more about us from… you know, before," you sighed.  
  
He just smiled reassuringly at you. "It's okay," he said. "It doesn't matter. We'll make new memories."  
  
The two of you made your way over to the food court where your other friends were already sitting.  
  
"Hi, Mary Sue!" Sunny called excitedly, waving you over. You were extremely happy to see her since Sunny had been a beacon of stability and support in helping you to deal with all of this. Her boyfriend, Sungmin, also smiled and nodded at you and beckoned the two of you over to sit near them.  
  
"What's up?" you asked as you sat down, Himchan taking the seat beside you and resting his arm on the back of it.  
  
"We were just talking about how Jessica, Nichkhun and Fei are graduating next month," Sunny caught you up.  
  
"Oh wow, that's big!" you exclaimed, tiny vague memories flitting through your head that connected faces to names.  
  
"Should I throw a party?" Himchan looked around at the group for confirmation. "Just one big joint party and invite everyone?"  
  
"Well we have to commemorate our time here somehow," Fei remarked, catlike features twisting up into a small smirk.  
  
"That sounds really fun," you agreed. "You guys'll have an awesome time, I'm sure."  
  
Sunny frowned slightly at you. "Aren't you coming, Mary Sue?"  
  
You didn't really know how to answer, considering you were still trying to figure out how you belonged in this group of people.  
  
"Of course she is," Himchan insisted in your stead.  
  
"It wouldn't be a party without Mary Sue," Nichkhun added with a wink.

 

"I can't believe it," Chanyeol sighed for the nth time in the past week. "Himchan actually won. He's dating Mary Sue."  
  
"He wouldn't be if she had her memory," Amber assured, as if that was reassuring.  
  
"That's the problem," Chanyeol said. "She doesn't even remember who I am. It's not that she's lost interest and decided to move on. She legitimately doesn't remember anything about me."  
  
"Well I like new Mary Sue," Key remarked offhandedly. "She's a lot less annoying now that she doesn't remember she was once The Chosen One."  
  
"She's a bit less self-important, yeah," Amber agreed, "but that doesn't mean the amnesia is an improvement."  
  
"Speak for yourself," Key muttered, and went back to lazily tracing the lines in Jonghyun's palm.  
  
Chanyeol sighed heavily. "What do we do?"  
  
"Well," Amber said thoughtfully. "We could wait for her memories to come back? The doctors said it could take up to two weeks for them to return, if they do."  
  
" _If_ they do?"  
  
"They most likely will," Amber reassured him.  
  
"I don't think I can wait that long," Chanyeol lamented. "She'll be so caught up with Himchan at that point."  
  
"Mary Sue is super nice," Krystal added. "Not to mention she can get any guy she wants. If her memories return but she's been dating Himchan for the past two weeks, do you really think she'll want to come back?"  
  
There was a pause as they all considered what might happen in the near future. In that moment of silence, a breeze filtered around them and lifted the grass and leaves from their weak anchors, and Jonghyun's eyes flitted closed as he relaxed in their patch of grass.  
  
"I have to get her back," Chanyeol insisted lowly, with no small measure of resolve.  
  
"We'll figure out a way to get her memories back," Amber said, as if she was searching for her own resolve.  
  
"How?" Key demanded.  
  
"I don't know," Amber admitted. "We could just remind her of things that happened in the past few months?"  
  
"What if we reenacted some of her best memories of Chanyeol?" Krystal suggested.  
  
Amber chewed her lip as she thought about it. "That could work."

 

It was Friday evening and you were hanging out at Key's house with Key, Amber and Jonghyun, pretty drained from the past week of being social with Himchan and your other group of friends while trying to remember why you liked them. Key and Jonghyun were sprawled out perpendicularly on the bed, Key resting his head on your brother's stomach, while Amber sat behind you braiding your hair.  
  
"What have you guys been up to?" you asked, wondering what might have made you begin to drift apart.  
  
"Just hanging out, mostly," Amber said. "What about you? How's Himchan and his posse?"  
  
You sighed. "He's fine, I guess." You grabbed one of Key's colorful throw pillows and hugged it close to your torso. "They're gonna throw some big graduation party at the end of the year," you mentioned.  
  
"Well that's perfect!" Amber said.  
  
You frowned. "I… guess?"  
  
"We should go dress shopping," Key said mechanically, as if he was pressed to say it, before closing his eyes and falling silent again, relaxing as Jonghyun ran his fingers idly through his hair.  
  
"Oh, well, I don't know if it's going to be a formal thing," you said.  
  
"Nonsense!" Amber exclaimed. "And even if it's not, we should go anyway."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"For funsies," Key flatlined.  
  
You pouted.  
  
"Are you free tomorrow evening?" Amber asked as if she was persuading you with something tantalizing.  
  
You shrugged. If nothing else, getting to go out with your close friends seemed like a really nice change. "Alright," you decided.  
  
"Yes," Amber hissed.

 

The next day, you were herded into a small dress shop at the corner of town that was vaguely familiar even though you didn't remember ever being there before. As you looked around at everything from cocktail dresses to long evening gowns, Key strutted up to the counter and rang the bell loudly.  
  
"Wooyoung!" he called, just as a frazzled looking guy shuffled out from the back room to greet you. "We're looking for something casual yet fabulous," he announced, and clapped twice. Wooyoung, the shop employee, just kind of stood there, eyes shifting around, as if he was trying to figure out why he was being clapped at. Key sighed. "Do you have anything like that?" he asked pointedly.  
  
Wooyoung frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, we do."  
  
"Where is it?" Key pressed.  
  
The shop worker shrugged. "Around."  
  
He seemed to have better things to do since he turned back around and headed into the back room, not without a sweeping gesture that Key interpreted as "help yourself to anything in the store." Key shrugged in return and started looking around, searching the store, and immediately started pulling dresses of racks and hangers and pushing you into the dressing room with handfuls of garments to try on.  
  
After the twelfth dress, you were tired and decided you would rather sit down and watch the others have fun with their own fashion montages. Amber was sitting on one of the ottomans looking at her phone while Key and Jonghyun were taking turns picking out different dapper ensembles for each other.  
  
Without thinking, you turned to Amber and asked, "So how was your study date?"  
  
"Hm?" It took a second for her to register what you said, and when she did she stared at you with her eyebrows knitted slightly in confusion. "Study date?"  
  
Wait, study date? Why did you even ask that? You shook your head. "I don't know, never mind," you muttered.  
  
"No," Amber said, "why did you ask me that?"  
  
You thought about it, but you couldn't come up with a reason, so you just shrugged.  
  
"Mary Sue," Amber began hesitantly, as if she was solving a puzzle as she spoke. "Do you want to… go for a walk?"  
  
You frowned. Why would you want to go for a walk? Was she saying you needed fresh air? Because you felt fine. "No, I think I'm good," you answered.  
  
"I think you should go for a walk," Key interjected. "It might be good for you."  
  
"No, I'm really fine, you guys," you said.  
  
"Seriously, go for a walk," Key insisted. "Just around the block. Real quick."  
  
"Why do you want me to leave so badly?"  
  
"Because we know what's best for you, Miss Memory Loss, now go take a quick walk and be back in fifteen." With that, Key snapped the dressing room curtains shut over his face, and you figured the conversation was over. With a sigh, you stood up and complied, figuring it might be at least nice to enjoy the cool air for a while and think.  
  
You stood outside for a few moments, looking around, before deciding to go left. You weren't sure why, it just seemed like a good direction to go, but after a few seconds a weird sense of deja vu hit you, and a shiver ran up your spine. But you brushed it off and kept walking, until you turned a corner and collided with a tall figure that was vaguely familiar.  
  
  


"This had better work," Kris muttered to Chanyeol as they stood against the brick wall of the alleyway, waiting for their cue. "Because if not, I'm gonna feel completely ridiculous for nothing."  
  
"Just give it your all, okay?" Chanyeol pleaded. "I need her to remember this."  
  
Kris rolled his eyes and sighed, rubbing his hands together. "Alright, I'll do my best, but let me tell you"--  
  
"Sh!" Chanyeol shushed, holding a finger up and listening. "I think she's coming."  
  
Kris stood there for a moment, trying to listen too, before Chanyeol shoved him over.  
  
"Go!" he hissed. "You're gonna miss your cue!" And with that he pushed Kris out and around the corner, just as Mary Sue rounded it.  
  
He heard Kris clear his throat and glanced around the corner. Mary Sue was staring up at Kris curiously and just looking vaguely confused, like she was trying to figure out where she knew him, and Kris squared his shoulders and tried to look menacing.  
  
"What are you doing alone?" Kris asked unconvincingly. "Out here. Outside, by yourself."  
  
Chanyeol's palm made contact with his forehead.  
  
"Just walking," Mary Sue answered casually. "I mean, I'm not totally alone, my friends are just right inside there"--  
  
"Sshhh," Kris hushed, and took an awkward step towards her, causing her to step back a little. "It's dangerous to be out here alone at night."  
  
She glanced around. "I mean, it's not quite night yet, is it? More like… mid-evening, really."  
  
"Uh," Kris faltered. "I-it's dangerous to be out here alone mid-evening."  
  
Chanyeol rolled his eyes. This was starting to spiral out of their hands. So he jumped out before his cue and shoved Kris against the wall with a loud, "Eurgh!"  
  
Mary Sue jumped from the entrance and watched the proceedings with wide eyes.  
  
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," Chanyeol recited, holding his knife up near Kris's throat.  
  
Kris glanced between Mary Sue and Chanyeol, looking at a loss for words. Chanyeol sighed. If Kris had just rehearsed his lines like Chanyeol told him to, they wouldn't be having this problem.  
  
Before Kris could get anything out, though, Mary Sue spoke up.  
  
"Because he has a right to live!" she stated firmly.  
  
Chanyeol and Kris both turned their eyes to her, unsure of how to respond.  
  
"I don't care what he's done to you," she said. "Or to anybody. Nobody deserves to die over their mistakes."  
  
"But…" Chanyeol stammered. "H-he's… a vampire," he floundered, mind racing to try and adapt the script to this turn of events.  
  
Mary Sue just scoffed. "Please," she said. "Vampires aren't even real. And besides, even if he was, I still stand by the fact that you shouldn't kill anyone, no matter who they are, or what they are." She placed her hands on her hips for emphasis, clearly not ready to back down from her opinions.  
  
Chanyeol didn't know what to do. If he stopped the charade, then there was no way she would remember how they met. But if he kept it up, he would look like a terrible person to Mary Sue, and she would hate him forever, and there was no way they would get back together. It was a lose-lose situation. After a few moments of weighing the decision in his head, he lowered the knife from Kris's neck and slowly stepped back, eyes fixed on the ground. Kris looked at him, trying to read from his actions what he was supposed to do next, and ended up just walking wordlessly away. Seemed like the play was over.

 

Back at the former hideout, Chanyeol sighed and dropped his head onto the kitchen table. "I'm screwed," he muttered into the wood.  
  
"More like not," Kai retorted.  
  
Chanyeol lifted his head for the sole purpose of glaring at Kai, who returned it with a cheeky expression.  
  
"Just being realistic," he said.  
  
"I'm sure she'll get her memories back sooner or later," Suho consoled, although the slight waver in his voice betrayed his doubts.  
  
"Come on, there's gotta be something that will jog her memory," Kris supplied. "We just haven't found that trigger yet."  
  
Tao sighed from his spot leaning against the wall. "If only I still had my time powers," he lamented. "I could just rewind her brain."  
  
"Like a computer?" Sehun said. "Like when your computer gets a virus, and you just set the time backwards to a point where it didn't have a virus anymore."  
  
"Yeah, only, Mary Sue lost all her recent memories," Xiumin said. "It's more like a factory reset, and you can't really go back on those."  
  
"Do you think healing her would've helped at all?" Lay asked tentatively.  
  
"What does any of that matter?" Kai scoffed. "We lost our powers. There's no point in saying, 'Gee if only I could still whatever,' because we can't. It's ineffective, and discussing it is getting us nowhere."  
  
Tao stared evenly across the room at Kai, expression unflinching. "Well, do you have any ideas that may help us?"  
  
Kai shrugged noncommittally. "You could try hitting her over the head again, see if that brings back any other memories she has of being knocked out."  
  
"Maybe she's suffered permanent brain damage from all the times she's been knocked out," Xiumin wondered aloud.  
  
"Guys," Chanyeol cut in. "None of this is helping, and it isn't really making me feel any better either."  
  
There was a somewhat awkward silence, and a few of the former Hunters took the empty space in the conversation as their cue to leave the room. Suho sighed softly from next to Chanyeol.  
  
"Well, we'll just have to keep doing what we can then," he decided.  
  
Chanyeol sighed hopelessly. "Do you have any ideas?"  
  
Suho frowned thoughtfully. "We could keep going on the same track you tried before," he said. "We might have to enlist some help though."

 

You were pleasantly surprised to get a message from Donghae asking to hang out the next day after school. You didn't have any plans that day other than going to the mall again with Himchan and your other friends, and figured you could blow them off just this once since you'd been spending time with them about every day now.  
  
You met up with Donghae in front of the school and he smiled when he saw you.  
  
"Hey, Mary Sue," he greeted with a warm smile, sparking vague memories of time you'd spent with him before.  
  
"Hey!" you replied. "So what did you have in mind for today?"  
  
He shrugged. "I figured we could… _play it by ear_ ," he said, putting a crescendo'd emphasis on the last four words without any sort of explanation.  
  
Your eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion, but you didn't have much of a chance to say anything in response as several figures in dark hoods suddenly surrounded you on all sides from nowhere and began closing in.  
  
"What's going on?" you demanded, alarmed at the sheer amount of threatening people circling you and Donghae in broad daylight.  
  
"I have no idea," Donghae said loudly, "but we should probably comply with everything they say."  
  
Your head whipped around at the eight or so bodies stepping ever closer and you thought quickly. Donghae was trustworthy and a voice of reason, but you didn't want to just give up that easily.  
  
You dug into your pocket and pulled out your phone, holding it up threateningly. "If you don't leave now, I'm going to scream and call the police!" you announced.  
  
Most of them stopped advancing, and Donghae glanced apprehensively in your direction. "Mary Sue, are you sure about that?" he insisted quietly.  
  
Your jaw set with resolve. "It's the middle of the day and school just got out," you reasoned. "The faculty hasn't even left yet. Look how many witnesses there would be!" You gestured to the ten or so students scattered throughout the parking lot and front lawn. The group of figures exchanged looks amongst one another. "Do you really want to pull whatever it is you're about to do?" you demanded.  
  
There was a tense silence before the group surrounding you seemed to simultaneously come to a decision in response to some unseen signal, and they quickly backed off and dispersed, disappearing around the corner and leaving you and Donghae standing there alone and unbothered.  
  
Donghae cleared his throat after a moment or so. "Wow, Mary Sue," he said. "That was… impressive."  
  
You shrugged. "Or maybe they were just stupid," you said, then turned to him. "So, what did you have in mind for today?" you asked again.

 

"I can't believe he took her to his uncle's art museum _and_ the Rising Gardens of the East," Jonghyun grumbled at the lunch table.  
  
Key raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. "What do you care?"  
  
Jonghyun sighed. "That's where he took me before," he said. "I feel like it was more our thing."  
  
Key's judgmental gaze was unwavering. "Need I remind you that that was when Donghae still thought you were Mary Sue?"  
  
"Yeah, but still," Jonghyun said. "That doesn't mean it wasn't real for me."  
  
Key rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Alright, whatever."  
  
"Guys, what are we going to do?" Amber asked, looking around at them and then to Chanyeol, who was slumped over in his chair with his head on his arms, glaring over at Mary Sue's table.  
  
"I still think nothing is an awesome plan," Key remarked, "but no one ever listens to what I want to do."  
  
"What about you, Chanyeol?" Amber said, ignoring Key completely.  
  
Chanyeol sighed. "I don't know."  
  
Amber followed his gaze, looking back and forth between him and Mary Sue. "You sure? There might be something that we're missing."  
  
"We've already tried the first two times we met," Chanyeol said.  
  
"We haven't tried the third time yet," Key interjected, cheerfully sarcastic.  
  
It was quiet as Chanyeol kept staring wordlessly at the other table, and the expression Himchan shot back when he noticed the other's gaze on him from across the cafeteria, smug and triumphant, was not missed.  
  
"Yeah," Chanyeol agreed defiantly. "You're right. We haven't tried that yet."  
  
"I wasn't serious," Key muttered, but Chanyeol had already straightened his posture and was sitting tall, glaring at Himchan with slightly more dignity than before.  
  
"We can't give up now."

 

That afternoon, Jonghyun was laying on Amber's bedroom floor while Key sat leaning against the bed.  
  
"So, are you gonna do it then?" Amber asked him.  
  
Jonghyun glanced up at the wall clock, watching the second hand tick by, and sighed. "I just don't know if it's going to work at all," he said.  
  
"You never know for sure until you try," she reasoned, and Jonghyun didn't like how reasonable she was because he couldn't argue with that.  
  
"Honestly, I think it's kind of a stupid idea," Key said with a shrug. "But, you know, with how everything else has been going lately…"  
  
He sighed again, his chin resting on his arms. Amber nudged him lightly. "Make the call, Jjong."  
  
He only procrastinated a few more seconds before sitting up on his knees and pulling out his phone. A few taps at his screen, and he put the phone up to his ear. Seconds later, there was the characteristic, "Hello?"  
  
"Mary Sue," he said. He paused, not knowing how to begin.  
  
"Hi, Jonghyun!" she said. "What's up?"  
  
"Uh," he stalled. "It's… it's Donghae."  
  
"Donghae?" She sounded distracted, and he could hear murmuring of laughter and conversation in the background.  
  
"Yeah, he's… He's a fish, Mary Sue." Jonghyun felt even more ridiculous saying it out loud than the first time he'd had to make this phone call.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, he's a fish. He's literally a fish." There was an awkward pause. "… What should we do?"  
  
She laughed lightly into the receiver. "That's impossible," she said. "Nobody just turns into a fish. What a preposterous and inconceivable concept!"  
  
"It's true, Mary Sue," Jonghyun persisted. He had to make this convincing if she was ever going to believe him. "He's really a fish. Mary Sue, we have to do something!"  
  
There was another pause as he supposed she was trying to register the possibility of Donghae randomly turning into a fish being true.  
  
"Okay," she said warily. "What should we do?"  
  
"I don't know," Jonghyun said. "There has to be somebody who we can go to for this kind of thing."  
  
"Hold on, I'll ask Himchan. Maybe he'll know something."  
  
"No, Mary Sue." Jonghyun brought the phone away from his face for a second and let out a tense sigh. This was about as difficult as he'd predicted it would be. "I mean, shouldn't you ask someone a little more… qualified for this type of thing?"  
  
She hesitated. "Like… Nichkhun?"  
  
"I…" He bit his lip. "No, not like Nichkhun. Actually, nevermind," he said. "He's not a fish, I just… My mistake, trick of the light. Have fun." He hung up the phone without waiting for a response and glanced at the other two, who's expectant faces stared back at him.  
  
"So," Key said. "How'd it go?"  
  
Jonghyun sighed and glared at the ceiling. "There was a zero percent chance of that working and we know it," he said. "If she doesn't remember Chanyeol, why would she even think to go to him?"  
  
Key shrugged. "If anything, it was worth the amusement," he said cheekily.

 

"So it's hopeless then," Chanyeol concluded the next day, staring wistfully at Mary Sue across the grounds.  
  
"No," Amber said, trying to stay reassuring. "We haven't tried everything yet. There's still a chance we can--"  
  
"Face it, nothing has worked and nothing is going to get Mary Sue's memories back." Chanyeol sighed and looked away from where the love of his life and Himchan were smiling and laughing happily. "I mean, you've said it yourself that it's pretty much impossible to get through to Mary Sue in any mental capacity," he said. "There's really nothing we can do."  
  
The rest of them stared forlornly at Chanyeol as he swallowed his pride and stalked over to his amnesiac girlfriend, ignoring the smug raised eyebrows Himchan shot at him and focusing in on Mary Sue's face. She looked up at him questioningly. He cleared his throat awkwardly.  
  
"I know you don't remember me," he prefaced. "But if there's any glimmer of memory or feeling or… something in there…" Chanyeol reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Mary Sue. "Can you meet me tomorrow? Five o'clock?"  
  
He held her hand for a moment and held her gaze for a moment longer before he let both drop and turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets as he made his way to his car.

 

It was questionable and mysterious, but something told you you didn't want to pass up the offer. Just something about that guy was so… you couldn't place your finger on it. Sad? Meaningful?  
  
Himchan had warned you not to go, saying something about how dangerous it might be and you didn't even know the guy, but you didn't care. You felt safe in your decision.  
  
Turning the wheel of your Ferrari as you navigated through the dark and dingy outskirts of town, you scanned your surroundings for the place you were told to meet. You spotted a cemetery a block down and pulled up, noticing the tall familiar figure standing there waiting for you as you got out of your car and walked over to him.  
  
"Is anything about this place familiar to you?" he asked, all earnest and serious, and you looked around at all the headstones and the mausoleum. You couldn't say any of it looked like something you'd seen before, so you shook your head. He nodded, eyes downcast, and took your hand. "Come on," he said, leading you toward the small building in the center of the plot.  
  
In the building was a gaping entrance in the floor to some underground passageway, a large marble slab skewed as if it had been pushed aside, and you were led down into the depths to be met with an intricate series of hallways and doorways which your guide expertly took you through as if he'd been there countless times before.  
  
After twists and turns, you finally came upon a large room with high echoing ceilings and a massive stone apparatus in the center of it, slightly raised, its smooth surface facing the sky spilling through the window in the ceiling. He dropped your hand and looked at you, stepping back to let you take everything in. Strange feelings ghosted through your nervous system. Pulsing anxiety and phantom jolts of pain. Hellish imagery, rivers of blood and walls of fire. Nightmares of death playing and then playing again in reverse.  
  
"Mary Sue?" You glanced over at him, and he was staring back at you, eyebrows cinched in studious concern. "Do you remember anything?" He almost sounded desperate for you to remember, but you couldn't. Everything was beginning to slip away as soon as it had struck you.  
  
"I… don't," you said.  
  
After a moment, he sighed and his head dropped in defeat. "I see." He was reaching into his pocket again. "In that case, I won't bother you anymore. Here." He pulled out a chain with some sort of charm hanging on the end of it and held it up. It glinted in the dusky light streaming in from above you. "Take this," he said. "I don't need it. Besides, it belongs to you."  
  
With that, he dropped the ornament into your hands, which you hadn't realized were outstretched to accept it, and walked past you, back the way you had come through. There was something about it, though, as you stared into its shiny depths. Something familiar…  
  
Suddenly everything came rushing back. The arranged marriage plot. Being in two places at once. Being kidnapped by vampires. Donghae turning into a fish. Training to fight. The vampire apocalypse. Dying. Coming back to life. Being avenged. Joining a gang. Being kidnapped again. Being avenged again. Being protected through almost everything. Chanyeol.  
  
Chanyeol.  
  
"Wait!" you called out, spinning around to see him before he could leave. He stopped and turned to stare back at you questioningly.  
  
You remembered everything.  
  
"Chanyeol," you said breathlessly, and you watched as his face turned from confused to surprised as he registered.  
  
"Yes?" he said uneasily, like it was too good to be true and he couldn't let himself hope too much.  
  
But this was real. "I remember," you said.  
  
"What?!"


	43. Chapter 43

It was a breezy day and the sky outside your window was streaked pink and gold with the beginnings of a sunset. You were styling your hair and chatting happily with Krystal, who, along with Amber and Jonghyun and Key, was gathered in your bedroom where you were all getting ready for Himchan's big end-of-year party that evening.  
  
"I heard she was cheating the whole time," she was saying, and you were half listening but then there was a knock on your doorframe and you all turned to see Chanyeol standing in the doorway.  
  
You grinned at him, and he returned it, and for a moment you just kind of stared at each other and it was like there weren't even four other people in the room.  
  
The past few weeks since getting your memory back, it was like happily ever after. Even Jonghyun, who had been acting depressed for quite a while, was suddenly happier than he'd been all year. From the sounds of it, Krystal's singing career was beginning to take off too, so she'd been busy and loving it. Key was also far less grumpy.  
  
"I got these for you," Chanyeol said, holding up the bouquet of flowers in his hand.  
  
You swooned. "How did you know I love tropical orchidrangeas?" you gasped.  
  
Chanyeol shrugged. "I just knew."  
  
Key rolled his eyes good humoredly. "All right, lover boy, it's just a graduation party, not a gala."  
  
Chanyeol's complexion tinged pink, but you accepted them happily.  
  
You didn't notice several exchanged looks at that moment before multiple faces turned to you. "Mary Sue?"  
  
You looked up at them all. "Yeah?"  
  
Amber beckoned you over to your bed and sat down, so you sat down beside her. She had a serious expression, and so did everyone else as they gathered around you.  
  
"What's up?" you asked lightly, trying to ease the tension in the room.  
  
"We need to talk about something," she said.  
  
You tried to gauge the caliber of what they wanted to talk to you about by her expression, but it was rather blank. "Okay?"  
  
"It's about us," she said, gesturing around to your brother, Key and Krystal.  
  
You wondered what it could be that they were going to tell you. Had they been doing something behind your back without you knowing? Maybe they formed a band together with Krystal, and they got a record deal and they're going on tour soon. Or maybe they formed a gang and they'd been going around committing petty crimes, and now they're being hunted down by the FBI so they have to leave and change their names and lose contact with you for a very long time until they are safe in another country far away, like Canada. Either way, you couldn't stand the idea of not seeing them for months or years on end. Who would be your real friends now?  
  
"We're gay."  
  
Amber and Jonghyun turned to Key, who just shrugged.  
  
"What? Might as well just come out and say it."  
  
You shook your head, certain they were playing a joke on you. "What?"  
  
"It's true," Amber affirmed. "Key, your brother, and Krystal and I, all of us."  
  
"Amber and I are dating," Krystal told you.  
  
"And I'm dating Key," Jonghyun said.  
  
"That's impossible," you argued. "Guys can't love each other."  
  
"Okay, erase that sentence from your mind. The sooner you discard that assumption as truth, the sooner we can all move on," Key said. "Guys _can_ love each other. Now, say it back to me."  
  
"But… guys can't"--  
  
"No, you're not listening to me. Ignore everything you think you know. Trust me, Mary Sue, the vast majority of what you consider knowledge in your head isn't even close to accurate. Now repeat after me: Guys can love each other."  
  
You laughed. "Oh, Key, you're such a jokester."  
  
"Humor me," he said humorlessly.  
  
"But, it's just such an absurd and unheard of notion," you giggled.  
  
Key groaned and dragged his hands over his face. "Do I need to make out with your brother in front of you for you to understand?" he demanded. "Because, as creepy as that idea is, I am not completely above doing that."  
  
You laughed again and looked to Jonghyun, wondering if he was in on the joke. But he just looked straight at you.  
  
"It really is true," he said.  
  
You weren't sure what to make of this.  
  
Jonghyun just glanced between you and Key again, like he was trying to figure out what to say exactly. "I like guys," he said. "Not girls."  
  
Your eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as your brain tried to process this information. "Guys… can love each other?" you asked.  
  
Everyone's eyes lit up slightly at your revelation.  
  
"Yes, Mary Sue, that's good," Amber said. "That's right. Guys can love each other."  
  
You looked at Amber and Krystal then, putting pieces together in your brain. "Okay," you said. "So… if guys can love each other, then that means… girls can love each other too?"  
  
"Yes! She finally gets it!" Key exclaimed. "I never thought I would see this day!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
Your mind started whirring with this newfound knowledge. Suddenly, Key's constant resistance to your Valentine's Day plans made sense. You didn't know what to do with this information. It was like your eyes had opened up to see things differently. And you suddenly realized…  
  
  


This made for so many more possibilities for match-making!  
  
You looked around when you arrived to Himchan's party. There were so many people, you thought everyone was there tonight!  
  
Scanning the crowd, your eyes passed over several couples that were happily together that you'd had a hand in setting up. Sungmin and Sunny were giggling over by the punch bowl, for example. It also hit you that you had a hand in getting Amber and Krystal together when you gave Krystal advice back in third period at the beginning of the year. Even CL and G-Dragon were back together because of you, and speaking of which, they were both approaching you now with big smiles on their faces.  
  
Surprisingly, CL greeted you with a massive hug. "Thanks, Mary Sue!" she exclaimed, smiling wide as she pulled back.  
  
"You're welcome!" you said, then added, "For what?"  
  
"Because of you, I finally passed all my classes," she said. "I'm graduating!"  
  
"Finally!" G-Dragon added with a pleased grin, pulling his girlfriend closer. "We gonna party like it's your birthday," he said with a wink.  
  
"That's great!" You couldn't believe how well that had worked out! It was like all the pieces just fell into place when you invoked the power of love!  
  
You couldn't just stop there. The year was almost over, and you'd be damned if you didn't tie up every romantic loose end you could by the end of it. No one would be left without a significant other. No one!  
  
  


"Have you guys ever considered dating?"  
  
Your question was met with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "Nice to see you too, Mary Sue," Eli said facetiously.  
  
You smiled and sat down at the table with Eli and AJ, who appeared deep in conversation before you intruded. "Okay, hear me out," you said, your hands held up like a sign. "I don't know if you know this, but I just found out today that guys can love each other. And I know you two are recently reunited childhood friends and everything, and that AJ was pretty much the center of Eli's backstory like five chapters ago, and looking over here and seeing you two on the same side again kinda got me thinking: you're like a twist on Romeo and Juliet! Or I guess Romeo and Tybalt, maybe?"  
  
"More like Romeo and Mercutio," Eli remarked, "since we're actually nothing more than best friends."  
  
"Oh, come on," you laughed. "Don't be so close-minded!"  
  
"Don't tell us what we are," AJ argued, rolling his eyes. "Try to set up some other poor souls, won't you?"  
  
You sighed. "Fine, but I'm not done pushing the idea on you yet," you said, standing up to go. "I just wanted to plant the seed." You winked and walked off to find more targets for your Cupid's arrows.  
  
  


You noticed Xiumin and Chen standing near the refreshments table, laughing and joking with each other. You wondered if it had ever occurred to them what potential their relationship had. You were about to go egg this hidden love boat along, when Kai intercepted you, hands casually in his pockets.  
  
"Hey, Mary Sue," he greeted you nonchalantly.  
  
You blinked at him. "Oh, hi, Kai," you said, a little distracted by your conquest.  
  
"I just wanted to tell you how much this year has meant to me," he told you. "I mean, granted hunting vampires was practically what I lived for, before you came along as the Chosen One and obliterated all of them. So, thanks for being awesome, Mary Sue," he said.  
  
You were somewhat taken aback by his statement of gratitude towards you. "Wow, Kai, I never realized you felt that way."  
  
"Yeah," he smirked. "Even though you took away my main purpose in life, if it weren't for you stopping the vampire apocalypse, Kyungsoo and I never would've"--  
  
"Hold that thought," you said before running off towards Xiumin and Chen. "Hey guys!" you said, interrupting their conversation.  
  
"Hey, Mary Sue," Xiumin greeted back with a smile. "What's up?"  
  
You grinned and rocked back and forth on the balls of your feet. "Oh, nothing," you said coyly. "I was just standing over there across the lawn, and I couldn't help but notice how much you two seem to hit it off."  
  
Xiumin raised his eyebrows, and Chen burst out laughing. You laughed along.  
  
"I'm not sure I want to know what you mean by that," Xiumin remarked.  
  
"Well, that would be a shocking development," Chen said with a snort.  
  
Xiumin chuckled. "Don't be offended if I'm a little bit cold toward the idea," he said.  
  
Chen grinned and wrapped his arm around Xiumin. "Aw, come on, love muffin."  
  
He was met with a hard shove to his side.  
  
"Don't give me the cold shoulder," Chen insisted with a wry grin.  
  
"Don't encourage it!" Xiumin retorted.  
  
"Ahem, Mary Sue?"  
  
You turned around to see Key, who put an arm around your shoulder and led you a few yards away.  
  
"I can't help but notice you missing the point of us telling you about homosexuality," he said. "And that's that you shouldn't go around telling people who to date. Especially if you're facing them toward the wrong gender."  
  
You blinked up at him, not really seeing his point.  
  
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, your gaydar is way off," he said bluntly. "Not everyone is gay or straight just because you think they are."  
  
You huffed impatiently. "I think I know romance when I see it, Key," you argued.  
  
"No," he insisted. "No, you do not. See? Look." He put his head next to yours so you were facing the same way and pointed. "Gay," he said, pointing to Jonghyun across the lawn. "Not gay," he countered, pointing back at Chen and Xiumin, who were now laughing and joking amiably. "Gay," he pointed to Nichkhun and Minho who were sitting close together with their heads bent and smiling in their clearly private conversation. "Not gay," he pointed over to Eli and AJ. Then he pointed to Kai and hesitated for a short moment. "Questionable," he said, "but definitely not straight, and I don't think you're ready to comprehend that yet."  
  
You furrowed your eyebrows, trying to see the difference.  
  
"Just… Stop trying to set up people who are friends," he said, "on the offchance that you're going to ruin a friendship."  
  
You frowned. It seemed to make sense.  
  
"So I should set up people who aren't friends?"  
  
"No, Mary Sue, I--"  
  
"I'm going to set up Yongguk and Himchan," you decided when your gaze locked onto the two of them, who apparently just met a few moments ago when Yongguk accidentally tripped and knocked into Himchan, sending them both into the pool with a loud splash and effectively ruining Himchan's priceless leather jacket.  
  
"That's not going to work," Key declared, watching the commotion as the two classmates heaved themselves up out of the pool, both sopping wet.  
  
"Why not?" you said. "If I set up people who aren't friends, then I can't ruin their friendship, can I?" you asked as if the answer was so obvious it should be rhetorical.  
  
"Ignoring the fallacy in your way of thinking, I'm pretty sure the first flaw in your plan is that neither of them are--Mary Sue!"  
  
You ignored him and marched on over to the two soon-to-be-lovebirds in question, Key trailing behind you with shouts of nay-say and discouragement.  
  
"This is expensive," you overheard Himchan pointing out to Yongguk, who held up his hands in apology.  
  
"Again, I'm sorry, man," he responded. "I can get it cleaned for you," he offered.  
  
"Why don't you go out and settle your differences romantically?" you interrupted loudly.  
  
They looked to you in surprise, and then back at each other, sizing each other up and considering the notion. Himchan frowned thoughtfully. "Alright," he said.  
  
Yongguk shrugged. "Why not?" he agreed.  
  
They turned from you and headed off together, Himchan stripping off his soaked jacket as they went, and Key stopped dead in his nonbelieving tracks beside you.  
  
"I'll admit, I never expected that to happen," he said, still staring after the two men, eyes wide.  
  
You smiled smugly up at him. "Just goes to show you that no one can resist the power of love," you declared.  
  
He shook his head, the trance suddenly broken. "I don't think that was love so much as--you know what? Nevermind. I'm gonna go somewhere else lest I get sucked into your warped reality any further."  
  
With that, he stalked off in the opposite direction.  
  
  


Successful matchmaking was hard work, and you were going to take a break. Stopping by the refreshments table and ladling yourself some punch, you leaned back and observed the partygoers with a sigh of contentment.  
  
"Mary Sue?"  
  
You turned to see Ren standing beside you. You hadn't seen him since you were in an alleyway and he was savagely trying to stab people.  
  
He stared at you for a moment and then smiled awkwardly. It looked rather strained. "Hey," he said lamely.  
  
"Hey," you returned nonchalantly.  
  
He leaned against the table beside you. "So, I guess this is it," he said. "The end of the school year."  
  
You nodded. "Yup. It's kind of weird to think about." You'd been through so much over the past year, it was unreal.  
  
"You actually did it, though," he remarked.  
  
You glanced to him questioningly. "Did what?"  
  
He grinned just slightly and returned eye contact. "Changed the status quo."  
  
"Huh." You sat back and pondered that for a moment, reliving the events of the past nine months. "I guess the new girl _can_ change the status quo."  
  
Your perspectives on everything were changing tonight, it was almost dizzying.  
  
"So what are you going to do?" you asked, just as a general inquiry.  
  
Ren shrugged. "I decided I'm going to rehab," he said. "Since I should probably address the obvious deeply rooted psychological issues I have."  
  
"That's very mature," you replied. "Admitting you have a problem is the first step to changing it."  
  
"Yeah." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "The gang is going their separate ways at this point. You've inspired them to be better people and live to improve their own lives instead of bringing down others'. So thanks for that."  
  
You reflected on that for a moment. "You're welcome."  
  
Then he turned and smiled at you and it was genuine. "See you around, New Girl," he said.  
  
You were about to respond to his retreating back when your thoughts were interrupted.  
  
"Mary Sue!" Chanyeol called as he jogged over to you. You grinned at him. "There you are, I've been looking for you." He settled beside you after serving himself a drink.  
  
"Oh, I've been mingling a whole lot," you said flippantly. "Matching couples, tying up loose ends, finding closure. The whole happy ending schtick."  
  
He grinned. "I like the sound of that happy ending thing," he said.  
  
You sighed happily. "And I'm glad everyone got to have a happy ending."  
  
Chanyeol coughed. "Well, actually, about that, Baekhyun's been up to--"  
  
"Mary Sue!" a shrill, distressed voice interrupted, and Sunny ran up to you crying, followed by a bitter-looking Sungmin who was keeping his distance a couple yards away.  
  
"Sunny, what's wrong?" you asked, alarmed, as she fell into your arms sobbing. You exchanged glances with Sungmin, but his expression wasn't giving anything away.  
  
"It's terrible! Me and Sungmin… we…"  
  
"You what?" She was crying too hard to get the words out. You looked to Chanyeol for help, but he seemed like he was refusing to say anything about the matter and was just looking on.  
  
Sunny's voice lowered to a trembling almost-whisper. "We… we're… we're siblings!" she exclaimed, and then fell heavier into your arms with even louder and more violent sobs.  
  
"What?!" You had no idea what to do with this information. "And you didn't know?!"  
  
She shook her head. Sungmin was biting the insides of his cheeks and looking away, rigid and upset.  
  
"Like… long lost brother and sister!" Sunny managed to gasp.  
  
"How…how did you find out?" you asked.  
  
"Find out what?" an innocent sounding voice said beside you, and you looked up to see Baekhyun looking very unsuspicious and also concerned for Sunny.  
  
"Oh, for--" Chanyeol muttered under his breath, and went largely ignored.  
  
Sunny straightened up and tried to calm her crying, sniffling and hiccuping and wiping her tears. "We were just curious about our heritage, since you mentioned you were descended from that really famous obscure musician," she told Baekhyun. "So we went to the library and found our records, and… and…" She dissolved into tears again.  
  
Baekhyun stepped forward and put a comforting arm around her, ignoring Sungmin's angry scoff from the other side of Chanyeol. "And what?" he pressed gently.  
  
"And we h-have the same parents!" she cried. "It was on our record, plain as day!"  
  
You frowned. "How could you have the same parents and not know?"  
  
Baekhyun rolled his eyes at you. "Obviously one of them would have to be adopted," he said. "Way to be insensitive, Mary Sue."  
  
Chanyeol let out an audible and impatient sigh.  
  
"It's okay," Baekhyun cooed, rubbing Sunny's arm soothingly. "At least you found out before it was too late," he murmured.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Sunny cried.  
  
"Well, first off, you shouldn't tell your parents you found out," he said reasonably. "It might break them. Wait until they're ready to tell you."  
  
She nodded. "Thanks," she sniffed. "I'm glad I have you here while I'm going through this."  
  
"Oh, sweetheart," Baekhyun sighed. "I've always been here. As long as I'm around, everything's going to be all right."  
  
Chanyeol's and Sungmin's simultaneous groans were drowned out by Amber and Jonghyun calling your name as they approached, shortly followed by Krystal and Key.  
  
"What's wrong with Sunny?" Krystal asked, looking concerned.  
  
You hesitated before answering, "It's a long story."  
  
"We're working through it," Baekhyun said pointedly. "Sh, it's okay," he hushed as Sunny sobbed louder.  
  
Just then, Donghae and Eunhyuk came up to your group as well. "Mary Sue," Donghae greeted you with a charming smile, which faltered when he saw Sunny crying. "What's wrong with"--  
  
"I've got it handled!" Baekhyun snapped.  
  
"Hi, Donghae," you said. Wow, it seemed like forever since the two of you had actually spoken to each other. "What's up?"  
  
"Eunhyuk and I have great news!" he exclaimed, wrapping an arm around the other.  
  
It suddenly occurred to you that Donghae and Eunkhyuk might be gay.  
  
"We're engaged!"  
  
Well, that answered that question.  
  
"And we're having a baby!"  
  
Your brain was suddenly forced to consider the possibility of something you thought was completely impossible. The notion was so absurd and unheard of, more so than finding out that vampires are real, and even more so than your recent discovery that men can love each other. You had no idea what to make of this new information, that there was only one thing you could say.  
  
"What?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.


End file.
